Chapter 7: Halloween Kidnapping
The next morning, at breakfast, the four were depressed and weren't talking much. Joey sat with them. He had returned the invisibility cloak and apologized for stealing it. Now he didn't need it anymore.
A small boy appeared behind him. "Hey, Joey," he said nervously. It was Scott Malfoy.
"What do you want?" asked Harry, but Joey was not so rude.
"Hey, Scott."
"Listen, I'm sorry about my cousin, Draco. He didn't mean to get you in trouble."
"Malfoy? Not meaning to get us in trouble? That's a good one!" said Ron.
"What are you talking about?" asked Scott, sitting down at the table so Draco wouldn't see him standing there.
"Your cousin is always trying to get us in trouble. He hates us," explained Harry.
"Oh, no, he doesn't hate you! It was Professor Snape who got you in trouble."
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have gotten in so much trouble if he hadn't made up all those things about us attacking you," Lauren said.
"He hasn't liked us since he met us!" added Hermione.
"I see what you mean. But he's not going to stop us from seeing each other, right, Joey?" said Scott.
"No way!" answered Joey. "But let's not go sneaking around at night anymore. I don't want to loose anymore points. And I don't want to get caught by Professor Snape again."
"Okay!" The two boys started making plans about how they would meet, and soon went off to the library together.
"I'm glad they agreed not to go sneaking off at night anymore," said Harry, "I don't want to get in any more trouble."
"I don't think we've heard the last of it though," said Hermione. "Those boys aren't in a very safe relationship. The other Slytherins and Gryffindors aren't going to like it."
"Well, I don't care as long as they keep us out of it," said Ron. "'Potter, you have been warned every year. Next time it happens, don't doubt that you will be expelled.' And don't doubt he'll do anything to make it happen, either."
"You guys worry too much. They'll work it out," said Lauren.
"You haven't been through some of the stuff we've been through," said Harry.
Lauren rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Harry sighed. "Come on, let's go to class."
It was Potions time, and the four walked down to the dungeons. Professor Snape was telling them how to make a potion to cure many magical ailments that were made by spells. Then he put a simple spell on each of them, had them drink their potion, and see what happened. Neville ended up the class with large boils on his face, because his potion hadn't worked, and had to go up to the hospital wing. Everyone else did fine, although Harry's potion did bubble a bit more than everyone else's did, and a bit of the green concoction landed on his robes. This earned him some rude comments from the Slytherins, including Malfoy, who was already happy that he had taken fifty points from Gryffindor the night before.
The weeks passed, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Harry had gotten a letter from Sirius saying that he was going back to Lupin's for a while. Harry would not be able to reach him there, since it was so far away. He was a little worried about Sirius being out of contact, but Sirius assured him that he would be back soon. Harry would have asked what he was doing, but Sirius had told him not to respond because he would already be gone.
Malfoy had not been bothering them too much lately. They hadn't sneaked out to the Slytherin common room again, and therefore hadn't gotten in trouble, so he didn't have anything to tease them about besides the usual. He still hadn't gotten wind of the fact that Lauren was a Muggle, because that certainly would have been one of the new things he could tease them about.
Hermione had begun receiving the Daily Prophet again. In her first issue, she received a letter apologizing for the fact that they weren't permitted to deliver the paper to Muggle neighborhoods. Hermione didn't really need the paper to check up on Rita Skeeter anymore, but she liked to read about what was going on in the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the newspaper either. No news about Lord Voldemort or the Death Eaters. They took this as a good sign.
The day of Halloween, the four were sitting in the common room doing homework.
"I'm sick of working. Let's go down to the feast! I'm starving," said Ron.
"Too bad it doesn't start for another hour," stated Hermione. Ron sighed heavily and his stomach growled. They decided to go downstairs anyway.
There were many people in the entranceway. They were waiting for the feast, too. But the doors to the Great Hall were closed. The teachers were not letting them in early, no matter how hungry they were.
Suddenly, Peeves swooped down the hallway. "Ah, time for the Halloween feastie? Halloween is my favorite time of year." He cackled nastily. No one paid any attention to him. Peeves didn't like being ignored. He went into the Great Hall, through the doors, and opened them from the inside.
No one knew it was Peeves who had opened the door, so they began to file into the Great Hall and sat down. It was decorated for Halloween as usual. There were eight huge jack-o-lanterns scattered around, plenty of live bats flying around, and scary skeletons in the room. The enchanted ceiling made it look even better, because it was getting stormy, and there were flashes of lightning in the distance.
The teachers looked surprised at all the students coming into the room, but they decided it was too late to chase them all out again, so they started the feast. The golden plates and goblets filled with food, and they began to eat.
When everyone had eaten their share, the plates were clean again, and they were dismissed. The Gryffindors started back up to Gryffindor Tower.
"I wonder where Joey was tonight," Lauren said.
"Maybe he sat with the Slytherins," Ron suggested.
"Oh, yeah, that would go over well with Malfoy," said Harry.
The next day, Joey wasn't at breakfast either. "I didn't see Scott at his table either," said Hermione. "Maybe the two of them ran off somewhere to eat together."
"That's probably it," said Lauren. But she didn't see Joey all that day. He wasn't in the common room after dinner.
"I'm getting worried. Maybe he's sick or something. We should look for him." Lauren convinced Harry, Ron, and Hermione to look with her. They searched the Great Hall, the dungeons near the Slytherin common room, the hospital wing, and the first year boys' dormitory. They didn't see Joey anywhere.
In the middle of the night, Lauren sneaked out of her dormitory and across the common room to Joey's dormitory. Joey was not there. She woke up Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They could all tell she was very worried, so they agreed to help her look for him.
"Oh, no, you shouldn't Harry," Hermione said. "Remember what Professor Snape said."
"How many times has he said that to me since I've been here? Come on, I won't get caught. We could wear the invisibility cloak."
"Slight problem, Harry," said Ron. "The cloak won't cover four people."
"Then we'll bring it just in case. If we hear someone coming, we'll hide. Maybe we can all fit if we stand still." So it was agreed that they would all go and look for Joey. It was too dangerous to split up, so they all walked together. Harry safely tucked the cloak in his pocket.
They were about to give up when they heard footsteps. The other person was trying to be quiet, too, so by the time they heard the steps, they knew it was too late. They would be caught. Harry's heart was beating hard. Supposed Snape really was serious about him being expelled? What would happen then?
The person turned the corner. It was Draco Malfoy.
"What are you doing here?" the five of them whispered.
"None of your business," said Malfoy. "But you shouldn't be sneaking around at night, Potter. Don't want to get expelled, do you?"
"You're sneaking around too, Malfoy. If you turn us in, we'll turn you in," said Ron.
Malfoy didn't say anything for a while, but after a few minutes had gone by, he said, "Oh, alright, if you must know, I'm looking for my cousin. So go back to your business now, and I'll go back to mine."
"I told you they ran off together," said Hermione.
"Is your little friend gone, too? Well, I know they wouldn't be together, because I told Scott not to hang out with friends of Potter's."
"Is that right?" said Lauren. "Because if you did, then he must not listen to you, because they've been meeting every day since you got us caught."
They couldn't see Malfoy's face in the dark, but they knew he must have been looking livid.
"Hey, I have another idea on where they could be!" said Harry suddenly. "Let's go. Malfoy can probably find his stupid cousin all by himself!" The four of them began to walk down the hall. They heard footsteps. Malfoy was still following them!
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked impatiently.
"You know where my cousin is. I'm following you," said Malfoy.
"No w-" started Ron, but Lauren broke in.
"Fine, but if you follow us, you can't get us into trouble for sneaking out."
"Done," said Malfoy.
They walked on in silence, except for Ron's occasional grumbling. Harry was leading them around the school. They looked out on the grounds, and in the halls. The two boys were no where to be found.
"We've looked in this hall twice already, Harry," said Ron. "Let's give up!"
"No!" said Lauren and Malfoy.
"I'll search all night if I have to," said Lauren. They kept walking.
Hours later, while walking on the first floor, Hermione suddenly had an idea. "Guys! Where did we meet when we wanted to be alone?" she asked excitedly.
"Moaning Myrtle!" Harry said.
Ron looked at her skeptically. "How would they know about that?" he asked.
"It's worth a shot," Harry replied. "It's the only place we haven't looked yet." He quickened the pace towards the girls' bathroom.
When they got to the familiar "out of order" sign, Harry pushed the door open. "What?" said Malfoy. "That's a girls' bathroom, Potter!"
"We know what we're doing, Malfoy! For once in your life, shut up!" Ron said angrily. Malfoy did and followed them into the bathroom.
Moaning Myrtle was sitting in her toilet stall. "Oh! More visitors!" she said, happily for a ghost.
"Hi, Myrtle," said Harry. "What do you mean more?"
"Two boys and a man came in here a while ago. It was strange, though. They never came out!"
"What did they do?" asked Hermione.
"When they came in, I heard the man talking. This is a girls' toilet, so I wanted to see what they were doing. Then they went to the same place you went three years ago."
Harry's eyes grew wide. "They could be in trouble!" he shouted. They went over to the sink, where there was a small snake carved into one of the faucets. Harry looked at it, trying to pretend it was real. "Open up!" he said. Malfoy smiled. Nothing happened. "Open up!" he said again. Only English came out, not Parseltongue, the language of the snakes.
Malfoy laughed at Harry's failure. "What are you trying to do?" he asked, laughing again.
"It only opens when I speak Parseltongue, but it's been a while, and it works better when the snakes are real," said Harry. It was common knowledge at Hogwarts that Harry could speak to snakes, a power that was common among Dark wizards.
"Is that all?" said Malfoy, amused. "Open up," he hissed.
Harry looked at him in amazement. "You're a Parselmouth?"
Malfoy scowled. "A talent I intend to keep quiet, Potter." It was a threat.
All five of them slid down into the Chamber of Secrets. They walked along the corridor. It was very dark, damp, and much the same as the last time Harry had seen it. So very much the same, in fact, that they soon came to a large stone wall, where it looked like the tunnel had caved in. There was a small hole in the rock. Unfortunately, the hole had been made to fit Harry and Ginny three years ago. He had grown considerably since then, and now could not fit through the hole. They would have to remove the rock.
"This could take forever!" exclaimed Ron, thinking about how long it had taken him to make that miniature hole.
"Wait!" said Harry. "I remember something from the third Triwizard task! Reducto!" The spell blasted a small hole in the rock. The five of them crawled through, and the hole disappeared.
"Now what?" asked Lauren. "We have no idea where they are or what we'll meet when we get there. They weren't alone."
"Nothing can be worse than a basilisk, and I've killed it," said Harry.
"What are you talking about?" asked Malfoy.
"This is the Chamber of Secrets, Malfoy. Remember three years ago, when Ginny got taken down here? I went to get her."
"Always trying to be the hero," muttered Malfoy. Harry ignored him and kept walking.
At the end of the dark passageway, they came to a huge stone wall. There were two snakes on the wall, their eyes both made of emeralds.
Harry remembered these doors from before, and what he had done to make them open. "Open up," he said, and this time it came out as a low hiss. The wall cracked open, and the five of them walked inside.
The room they were now standing in was slightly brighter than the hallway. It was supported with pillars carved with more of the same snakes that were on the door, except these didn't have emeralds in their eyes. At the end of the chamber was a statue of Salazar Slytherin himself. But there was no Ginny lying unconcious beneath it this time, no Tom Riddle standing by the pillar. In fact, there was nothing. No boys, no mysterious man.
"Where'd they go? They can't have left! Myrtle would have seen them!" Hermione gasped.
"There's another place in this Chamber where they could have gone," said Harry. "The place where the basilisk came out." He pointed to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. "Tom Riddle just said some stuff and its mouth opened up."
"Well say it, then!" instructed Malfoy.
Harry hesitated and looked up at Salazar Slytherin's statue. It didn't look like a real snake; it didn't look like a snake at all. "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four," Harry said, but it had been English. Nothing had happened.
Malfoy took over. "Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four." The mouth of the statue opened wide. No basilisk crawled out, instead, a dark flight of stone steps descended down into the statue. They all walked down the stairs, not knowing what they would see at the bottom.
At the bottom of the long, dark stairs was another chamber. It was almost identical to the first, except it was a bit smaller and darker, and had snakeskin lining the floor. At the end of the room, Joey and Scott were tied to a pillar.
Lauren and Malfoy ran over to the boys and untied them. "We have to get out of here!" Joey cried. "That guy will be back any minute!"
"Who was that guy?" asked Harry.
"Dunno," said Scott, "He wore a cloak with a hood, so we couldn't see what he looked like."
"Bet it was Lord Voldemort," said Harry, not thinking about whose presence he was in.
"Why would the Dark Lord kidnap a pureblood Slytherin whose uncle is a Death Eater?" Ron said without thinking either.
Malfoy turned on the spot. "Why, you…"
"Don't even try to deny it!" Ron shouted. "We all know your dad's a Death Eater! There's no point in trying to hide it!"
"Fine," said Malfoy. "I don't deny it. My dad's a Death Eater. But you'd better not tell anyone else or I'll get you, Weasley."
"Yeah, right! Help, Harry! I'm so scared!"
Malfoy lunged at Ron, and soon they were fully involved in a fistfight.
"Stop it!" screamed Hermione. "Fighting won't solve anything! We have to get out of here before whoever that guy is comes back!"
"It's a little too late for that," came an all too familiar voice. A cloaked man walked out of the shadows by the stairs. He removed his hood.
