Designated Harbinger - Secrets
PG-13 Chapter 18 - Scouting Sources
Why is it that whenever it is somewhat peaceful, something has to mess it up? I wonder about that at times. Do you? Just recently events in my life were flowing smoothly. Then comes the flood. The rapids and currents have since then settled. But I must wonder.what is going on beneath the surface? And when will the water overtake me once again?
************
/ Come on. Someone talk. Please. /
The next morning everyone was still walking dazed. The silence was getting on my nerves. Even gossip was better than this fear that covered the school. Breakfast consisted of whispers and furtive glances towards the Gryffindor table. The famous trio avoided eye contact. Throughout the day, we waited and watched, for something to happen.
Carol was the first to speak of the incident. The rest of us were distractedly studying transfiguration while she was looking for some books. Not so unusual, for Carol always had some sort of book in her hands.
"I can't find that stupid book," says Carol as she sat down and opened her transfiguration tome with undue force.
"What book?" Helen asks curiously. The rest of us looked at Carol.
"Hogwart's: A History. Dane told me that he remembers the book mentioning the Chamber of Secrets."
/ Oh. That explains everything. Carol hates not knowing something. / "It would. It's enormous enough," Jessica mutters, focusing back on her notes.
"You've read it?" Carol's eyes brighten. She leans forward.
Jessica looks up and notices that the study group is watching her. Waiting for some grand secret to tell them.
"Uh, yeah? Don't recall anything about the Chambers of Secrets though. Of course the thing weighs ten pounds, so no, I didn't read it all."
Disappointed, they start reading again. Alex shrugs. Carol, on the other hand, looks irritated.
"Do you.do you think that it's true? That Harry Potter and them killed Mrs. Norris." Helen whispers.
"No way. Besides, rumor is that the darn cat's paralyzed, not dead." / Helen looks really nervous. Still, I could tell it wasn't dead. /
Again, they stare at Jess. She shrugs. / What? It just can't be them. Of course they don't know why I'm so confident. /
"Right. It can't be Harry Potter. And I doubt that his friends did it either. It doesn't fit. Harry's not cruel enough." Alex dips his quill into some ink and continues writing notes.
"I don't know. He could be." Seth said, then adds when he notices the incredulous looks, "Well, he could! Remember what they said about last year. About him fighting someone who wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone. And he did kill You Know Who."
"HE WAS A BABY. That couldn't have been a conscious act. No one really knows what happened that night." / I can't believe he could even think that! /
"The Philosopher's Stone, was that it? How could he defeat someone for that? He's only a year older than us." Helen says and wipes her glasses nervously.
We all look at each other. / They look as confused and unnerved as I feel. /
Three older students walking by their table eye them. Their whispered conversation was gaining attention. Jessica rolls her eyes and reads over her Transfiguration notes.
"I wish I could find that book. What we need is more information." Carol says. She sits up straighter so she isn't leaning over the table.
"If it's that important to you Carol, you can borrow mine." Jessica looks up when no one answers back. "What!"
"You own Hogwarts: AHistory. Why didn't you tell me!" / Opps, Carol looks upset with me. /
"I thought you knew. What do you think that thing I use as a doorstop is?"
Now she looks really upset.
Alex starts laughing; "You use the book as a doorstop?"
Jessica sticks out her tongue at them. "So, what! I did say the stupid book was heavy enough."
Carol still looks mad. / Or maybe peeved would be a better word. / Helen's trying to hide a smile.
"Then let's go back to the common room and look at it!" Seth starts gathering his books and notes together.
"What! Now? We're supposed to be studying." / Do we really have to do this? We could be worrying ourselves over nothing. /
"Yes, now you bloody twit. I swear, all this time we've been talking and you're keeping the book as a bloody door stop," Carol stands up.
"Oh, all right. Let's all march up there. I can't believe this." Jessica wines.
"Me either," mutters Carol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We all waited as Carol flipped through the book. The corner they were in was a small quiet one. There were some curious looks, but once they saw our books and notebooks, they left us alone. Ravenclaws know better than to interrupt a study session.
"Legends of Hogwarts. Here it is, The Chamber of Secrets," Carol said just loud for us to hear.
Helen, Alex, and Jessica move in closer to hear better. Seth set his books down to move next to Carol so he could read over her shoulder. Carol glared mildly at him, then starts reading aloud,"
"The Legend of the Chamber of Secrets has its roots centered around
the school's founding. Each of the Hogwarts Four adopted a set of
students for their house, which became tradition. (See Hogwarts: A
Founding, pg 546)
For this period the school was the size of a large manor house. Over
the scores of years, thanks to Rowena Ravenclaw (See Founders: Rowena
Ravenclaw, pg 220), the school expanded and adapted to the
requirements of the students as well as disguising its view from
Muggle detection. In modern times, Hogwarts appears to us as a
rambling, complicated, diverse combination of buildings of varying
styles and architecture held together by it's innate magic. (See
Hogwarts: A Structure, pg 132)
Before the differences between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin
(See Founders: Godric Gryffindor, pg 130 and Founders: Salazar
Slytherin, pg 269) became serious, each of the founders worked
together in a spirit of cooperation and compromise. According to the
legend, Slytherin and Gryffindor argued over whether to allow Muggle-
born students into Hogwarts. When Gryffindor apparently won, Slytherin
left the school, but not before building the Chamber.
Salazar Slytherin supposedly built a secret chamber somewhere in
Hogwarts that only his true heir would be able to open. This chamber,
called The Chamber of Secrets, contains a monster that will finish his
"noble purpose" of killing all the Muggle-born students at Hogwarts.
Throughout the wizarding world the name Slytherin no longer exists.
The reason for this is the possibility that the family changed their
name to avoid prosecution or lost it through intermarriage. The
paucity of written records during this time period makes this
conjecture impossible to prove.
Rumors of the creature abound, yet, since no attacks were reported
this produced doubts that such a chamber exists. Over the centuries,
many great witches and wizard searched for the Chamber but none found
it. Eventually, the whole incident was assumed to be purely fiction."
"Wow," Jessica says ending the silence.
Carol nods gravely, closing the book.
"I don't like this.I don't like this at all," Alex mutters.
"A monster," Helen drawls.
"Well, I always did imagine Salazar Slytherin was a slimy bastard," Carol spits out. Eyes cold.
"Oh, that's harsh Carol. True perhaps, but harsh" Jessica commented.
They were all silent for a moment
"So.what now?" Helen pipes up.
"Research," suggests Alex.
"And a list of suspects" Carol muses.
"Check the corridor for clues" Jessica added.
Carol shakes her head. "The professors would have been through that already"
"Yeah, but I doubt they would tell us what they found out," Jessica points.
"The Gryfindor trio should be on the list." Seth speaks up for the first time.
Alex and Jess glare at him until Carol agrees. "We can't rule out any possible suspects"
"That'll be one long list," Alex says.
"This whole event could be a prank" Carol suggests.
"It could be," Helen says thoughtfully, "but who?"
"Draco Malfoy or some other Slytherin." Alex comments.
Jess gives Alex a strange look. "Peeves"
They know how Jess dislikes ghost but don't correct her. After all, she could be right.
"The Weasly twins are known jokers" Seth
"So should we start making that list? I mean, what should we do?" Helen
"I'm not sure we should do anything." Seth whispers.
"The point is.we don't have enough information yet. It could be a prank or something far more serious" Carol sums up.
"Whatever it is, it certainly made the teachers nervous" Alex points out.
"So we wait?" Seth questions hopefully.
"And focus on our studying while keeping watch for more news." Alex
"Hey, it's what we Ravenclaws do best, right!" Jess cheekily agrees.
"That's not funny," Seth says
"Who was joking?" Jess answers slyly.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Filch had placed a chair at the scene, acting as a sentry. He'd hit you with a detention before you could blink, if any student stooped or walked down the hallway too loudly. It was a week before Jess could take a look around the corridor.
They hadn't been the only ones puzzling over the mystery. A list of suspects and clues were informally posted in the Ravenclaw commonroom. Still, at week's end, events had settled down. No more incidents followed, so distractions and schoolwork diverted many away from detective work. Also, Quidditch season started that Saturday and many were looking forward to it.
So why is Jessica sneaking out of the Great Hall during lunch? Though she agreed with Carol's reasoning, she knew that she might perhaps find out something others might miss (plus this could be a good way to try out her psychometry skills).
Quickly walking, almost jogging, she reached the corridor. Then she shivered something that wasn't unusual for her. The entrance to Myrtle's bathroom was located nearby. Faded red letters adorned the wall. For some reason no matter how many times it was scrubbed clean the writing would appear back. Some type of spell perhaps? A warning? Or was it the material used that left such a hardy mark?
Jessica looks around for any witnesses, then steps closer to the wall. Taking a few deep-cleansing breaths, she closed her eyes and readied herself to begin. A few moments later she reached out her left hand, fingers touching the letter 'P'.
/Hope this works as well as my practices. / Then she concentrated and stretched her mind into the message.
For a minute or two nothing happens. Slowly images form.
Foggy thick black clouds surrounding a person. Feeling of lost.hatred. She shudders, flexes her hand so her palm is resting on the letter also.
A teenager in shades of gray, surrounded by black bars. No, not a boy. Feels like a man, an angry, confused man.such hatred. And old, yet not. Her hand shakes.
She backs away from the wall, hand falling to her side. Brow wet with sweat, she takes a deep breath and wipes. A sound from down the hall startles her just as the feeling of vertigo returns.
Jessica's stomach turns over. / Oh. Darn it. Not now! /
She runs into the nearest bathroom and into the closest stall. Most of her lunch ends up in the toilet. After gagging a few times, she flushes then stumbles out to the nearest sink.
Shivering, Jessica turns on the water, splashes her face, and rinses her mouth out.
"Eww. That didn't sound fun." The nasal voice sounds from behind her.
"Ahh!" She yells, jumps, and spins around to see a ghost floating behind her.
"Don't do that! And No, it wasn't fun," she says sarcastically.
The ghost must have been a student cause she was still wearing her Hogwart's uniform robe. Huge transparent glasses covered her eyes and her lack hair appeared greasy. She looked affronted, sniffed, and started to say something.
Jessica beat her first, asking, "You Myrtle?"
She looks surprised. "Yes." she says a little more cheerfully. Then her eyes narrow.
"Why? Have you been talking about me? Oh, yes, make fun of poor old dead Myrtle. She's just a ghost. Who cares if she has feelings? How would you like it if I made fun of you?"
/ Great. Just what I need now. A morose ghost with self-esteem issues. / Jessica rolls her eyes.
"Sorry," Jessica drawls sarcastically. Then she purposely ignores the ghost, turning to the mirror.
As she straightens her hair, she says, "I've never been in here before. M' name's Jessica. And, well, I could stay and talk longer, but, as you can see, I'm not feeling well. I also need to go to my dorm room to get my books so I'll be to class on time."
Then she quickly walks out, said a quick 'bye', leaving a silent annoyed ghost behind her.
Jessica shudders and looks around the hallway once she's out the door. / Ugh. I'm glad that's over! Man, now I can't wait for this day to end. The sooner I can go to bed, the better. /
Why is it that whenever it is somewhat peaceful, something has to mess it up? I wonder about that at times. Do you? Just recently events in my life were flowing smoothly. Then comes the flood. The rapids and currents have since then settled. But I must wonder.what is going on beneath the surface? And when will the water overtake me once again?
************
/ Come on. Someone talk. Please. /
The next morning everyone was still walking dazed. The silence was getting on my nerves. Even gossip was better than this fear that covered the school. Breakfast consisted of whispers and furtive glances towards the Gryffindor table. The famous trio avoided eye contact. Throughout the day, we waited and watched, for something to happen.
Carol was the first to speak of the incident. The rest of us were distractedly studying transfiguration while she was looking for some books. Not so unusual, for Carol always had some sort of book in her hands.
"I can't find that stupid book," says Carol as she sat down and opened her transfiguration tome with undue force.
"What book?" Helen asks curiously. The rest of us looked at Carol.
"Hogwart's: A History. Dane told me that he remembers the book mentioning the Chamber of Secrets."
/ Oh. That explains everything. Carol hates not knowing something. / "It would. It's enormous enough," Jessica mutters, focusing back on her notes.
"You've read it?" Carol's eyes brighten. She leans forward.
Jessica looks up and notices that the study group is watching her. Waiting for some grand secret to tell them.
"Uh, yeah? Don't recall anything about the Chambers of Secrets though. Of course the thing weighs ten pounds, so no, I didn't read it all."
Disappointed, they start reading again. Alex shrugs. Carol, on the other hand, looks irritated.
"Do you.do you think that it's true? That Harry Potter and them killed Mrs. Norris." Helen whispers.
"No way. Besides, rumor is that the darn cat's paralyzed, not dead." / Helen looks really nervous. Still, I could tell it wasn't dead. /
Again, they stare at Jess. She shrugs. / What? It just can't be them. Of course they don't know why I'm so confident. /
"Right. It can't be Harry Potter. And I doubt that his friends did it either. It doesn't fit. Harry's not cruel enough." Alex dips his quill into some ink and continues writing notes.
"I don't know. He could be." Seth said, then adds when he notices the incredulous looks, "Well, he could! Remember what they said about last year. About him fighting someone who wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone. And he did kill You Know Who."
"HE WAS A BABY. That couldn't have been a conscious act. No one really knows what happened that night." / I can't believe he could even think that! /
"The Philosopher's Stone, was that it? How could he defeat someone for that? He's only a year older than us." Helen says and wipes her glasses nervously.
We all look at each other. / They look as confused and unnerved as I feel. /
Three older students walking by their table eye them. Their whispered conversation was gaining attention. Jessica rolls her eyes and reads over her Transfiguration notes.
"I wish I could find that book. What we need is more information." Carol says. She sits up straighter so she isn't leaning over the table.
"If it's that important to you Carol, you can borrow mine." Jessica looks up when no one answers back. "What!"
"You own Hogwarts: AHistory. Why didn't you tell me!" / Opps, Carol looks upset with me. /
"I thought you knew. What do you think that thing I use as a doorstop is?"
Now she looks really upset.
Alex starts laughing; "You use the book as a doorstop?"
Jessica sticks out her tongue at them. "So, what! I did say the stupid book was heavy enough."
Carol still looks mad. / Or maybe peeved would be a better word. / Helen's trying to hide a smile.
"Then let's go back to the common room and look at it!" Seth starts gathering his books and notes together.
"What! Now? We're supposed to be studying." / Do we really have to do this? We could be worrying ourselves over nothing. /
"Yes, now you bloody twit. I swear, all this time we've been talking and you're keeping the book as a bloody door stop," Carol stands up.
"Oh, all right. Let's all march up there. I can't believe this." Jessica wines.
"Me either," mutters Carol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We all waited as Carol flipped through the book. The corner they were in was a small quiet one. There were some curious looks, but once they saw our books and notebooks, they left us alone. Ravenclaws know better than to interrupt a study session.
"Legends of Hogwarts. Here it is, The Chamber of Secrets," Carol said just loud for us to hear.
Helen, Alex, and Jessica move in closer to hear better. Seth set his books down to move next to Carol so he could read over her shoulder. Carol glared mildly at him, then starts reading aloud,"
"The Legend of the Chamber of Secrets has its roots centered around
the school's founding. Each of the Hogwarts Four adopted a set of
students for their house, which became tradition. (See Hogwarts: A
Founding, pg 546)
For this period the school was the size of a large manor house. Over
the scores of years, thanks to Rowena Ravenclaw (See Founders: Rowena
Ravenclaw, pg 220), the school expanded and adapted to the
requirements of the students as well as disguising its view from
Muggle detection. In modern times, Hogwarts appears to us as a
rambling, complicated, diverse combination of buildings of varying
styles and architecture held together by it's innate magic. (See
Hogwarts: A Structure, pg 132)
Before the differences between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin
(See Founders: Godric Gryffindor, pg 130 and Founders: Salazar
Slytherin, pg 269) became serious, each of the founders worked
together in a spirit of cooperation and compromise. According to the
legend, Slytherin and Gryffindor argued over whether to allow Muggle-
born students into Hogwarts. When Gryffindor apparently won, Slytherin
left the school, but not before building the Chamber.
Salazar Slytherin supposedly built a secret chamber somewhere in
Hogwarts that only his true heir would be able to open. This chamber,
called The Chamber of Secrets, contains a monster that will finish his
"noble purpose" of killing all the Muggle-born students at Hogwarts.
Throughout the wizarding world the name Slytherin no longer exists.
The reason for this is the possibility that the family changed their
name to avoid prosecution or lost it through intermarriage. The
paucity of written records during this time period makes this
conjecture impossible to prove.
Rumors of the creature abound, yet, since no attacks were reported
this produced doubts that such a chamber exists. Over the centuries,
many great witches and wizard searched for the Chamber but none found
it. Eventually, the whole incident was assumed to be purely fiction."
"Wow," Jessica says ending the silence.
Carol nods gravely, closing the book.
"I don't like this.I don't like this at all," Alex mutters.
"A monster," Helen drawls.
"Well, I always did imagine Salazar Slytherin was a slimy bastard," Carol spits out. Eyes cold.
"Oh, that's harsh Carol. True perhaps, but harsh" Jessica commented.
They were all silent for a moment
"So.what now?" Helen pipes up.
"Research," suggests Alex.
"And a list of suspects" Carol muses.
"Check the corridor for clues" Jessica added.
Carol shakes her head. "The professors would have been through that already"
"Yeah, but I doubt they would tell us what they found out," Jessica points.
"The Gryfindor trio should be on the list." Seth speaks up for the first time.
Alex and Jess glare at him until Carol agrees. "We can't rule out any possible suspects"
"That'll be one long list," Alex says.
"This whole event could be a prank" Carol suggests.
"It could be," Helen says thoughtfully, "but who?"
"Draco Malfoy or some other Slytherin." Alex comments.
Jess gives Alex a strange look. "Peeves"
They know how Jess dislikes ghost but don't correct her. After all, she could be right.
"The Weasly twins are known jokers" Seth
"So should we start making that list? I mean, what should we do?" Helen
"I'm not sure we should do anything." Seth whispers.
"The point is.we don't have enough information yet. It could be a prank or something far more serious" Carol sums up.
"Whatever it is, it certainly made the teachers nervous" Alex points out.
"So we wait?" Seth questions hopefully.
"And focus on our studying while keeping watch for more news." Alex
"Hey, it's what we Ravenclaws do best, right!" Jess cheekily agrees.
"That's not funny," Seth says
"Who was joking?" Jess answers slyly.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Filch had placed a chair at the scene, acting as a sentry. He'd hit you with a detention before you could blink, if any student stooped or walked down the hallway too loudly. It was a week before Jess could take a look around the corridor.
They hadn't been the only ones puzzling over the mystery. A list of suspects and clues were informally posted in the Ravenclaw commonroom. Still, at week's end, events had settled down. No more incidents followed, so distractions and schoolwork diverted many away from detective work. Also, Quidditch season started that Saturday and many were looking forward to it.
So why is Jessica sneaking out of the Great Hall during lunch? Though she agreed with Carol's reasoning, she knew that she might perhaps find out something others might miss (plus this could be a good way to try out her psychometry skills).
Quickly walking, almost jogging, she reached the corridor. Then she shivered something that wasn't unusual for her. The entrance to Myrtle's bathroom was located nearby. Faded red letters adorned the wall. For some reason no matter how many times it was scrubbed clean the writing would appear back. Some type of spell perhaps? A warning? Or was it the material used that left such a hardy mark?
Jessica looks around for any witnesses, then steps closer to the wall. Taking a few deep-cleansing breaths, she closed her eyes and readied herself to begin. A few moments later she reached out her left hand, fingers touching the letter 'P'.
/Hope this works as well as my practices. / Then she concentrated and stretched her mind into the message.
For a minute or two nothing happens. Slowly images form.
Foggy thick black clouds surrounding a person. Feeling of lost.hatred. She shudders, flexes her hand so her palm is resting on the letter also.
A teenager in shades of gray, surrounded by black bars. No, not a boy. Feels like a man, an angry, confused man.such hatred. And old, yet not. Her hand shakes.
She backs away from the wall, hand falling to her side. Brow wet with sweat, she takes a deep breath and wipes. A sound from down the hall startles her just as the feeling of vertigo returns.
Jessica's stomach turns over. / Oh. Darn it. Not now! /
She runs into the nearest bathroom and into the closest stall. Most of her lunch ends up in the toilet. After gagging a few times, she flushes then stumbles out to the nearest sink.
Shivering, Jessica turns on the water, splashes her face, and rinses her mouth out.
"Eww. That didn't sound fun." The nasal voice sounds from behind her.
"Ahh!" She yells, jumps, and spins around to see a ghost floating behind her.
"Don't do that! And No, it wasn't fun," she says sarcastically.
The ghost must have been a student cause she was still wearing her Hogwart's uniform robe. Huge transparent glasses covered her eyes and her lack hair appeared greasy. She looked affronted, sniffed, and started to say something.
Jessica beat her first, asking, "You Myrtle?"
She looks surprised. "Yes." she says a little more cheerfully. Then her eyes narrow.
"Why? Have you been talking about me? Oh, yes, make fun of poor old dead Myrtle. She's just a ghost. Who cares if she has feelings? How would you like it if I made fun of you?"
/ Great. Just what I need now. A morose ghost with self-esteem issues. / Jessica rolls her eyes.
"Sorry," Jessica drawls sarcastically. Then she purposely ignores the ghost, turning to the mirror.
As she straightens her hair, she says, "I've never been in here before. M' name's Jessica. And, well, I could stay and talk longer, but, as you can see, I'm not feeling well. I also need to go to my dorm room to get my books so I'll be to class on time."
Then she quickly walks out, said a quick 'bye', leaving a silent annoyed ghost behind her.
Jessica shudders and looks around the hallway once she's out the door. / Ugh. I'm glad that's over! Man, now I can't wait for this day to end. The sooner I can go to bed, the better. /