Chapter 13:
I woke up in the same spot, lying on the steps, holding my head and blinking to get rid of the dots appearing. "What happened?" I asked myself, trying to stand, but the world was still spinning. I took a deep breath, trying to center myself, but everything seemed so strange. "Hello?" I asked, seeing the castle looking darker and grayer. I found my feet and leaned on the wall to keep from falling over, but the grayness didn't disappear at all, it was covering everything, like there was something wrong with my eyes.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked myself as I continued down the halls, trying to find someone…anyone. I turned the corner and heard whispering, I moved closer, but couldn't see anyone. "It's time…time to move…time to kill…" it was the same creepy hissing voice that I heard and Harry heard also. I chased the voice as it traveled down the halls, trying to find the person speaking, only to come to a dead end, the voice got fainter and fainter, leaving me stuck, unable to follow it any longer.
"Who are you?" I asked, trying to figure it out as I pressed my hand on a nearby wall, hoping for a clue somewhere. I was met with the coldness and hardness of the stones, unfazed by the voices and color that seemed to be drained away. I sat down, pressing my back against the wall, feeling tired and unable to believe that I was so close to finding the voice, but stopped by a wall.
I felt my eyes shutting, I jumped and realized I was falling asleep, I stood up and shielded my eyes from the bright sunlight coming through a window. I blinked and saw that color was back, everything seemed to be back to normal now, making me sigh in relief. I walked around the corner and saw a group of students whispering together. I went to them and they all looked up at me like they were scared out of their minds. "Where have you been Professor Ice?!" one said and I blinked, I was only gone for a moment.
"What is going on here?" I looked up and saw Flitwick stumbling over with a handful of books. "Professor Ice is here." he dropped his book and stared at me. I looked down and then around, this was beyond crazy. "Go on to class now." he told the students, who began whispering as soon as they turned the corner. "What's wrong?" "Where have you been?" I blinked and looked over my shoulder, "I fell asleep in one of the corners of the castle, I just got dizzy and then got up and walked over here."
"Phoebe, you have been missing for almost a month. We all thought you had been taken by the monster." I laughed, now that was just crazy, no way was I sleeping for a month. "Are you sure you haven't been drinking?" "He is correct." I looked up and saw Dumbledore walking over to us, a smile on his face. "It is good to see you, we have all been worried." "But I swear we just left the field and took Harry to the nurse, I was walking around when I fell asleep."
"It is true, a month has passed since that day, I was beginning to think I would never see you again." I let them fill me in on what had been happening, another attack on a student and everything they knew about the chamber, but that wasn't much more than anyone else knew. Except it was the second time this chamber has been opened and last time, a student was killed by the monster. I took the information and went to my room, my heading sore and I was still confused by how I lost a month of everything.
I skipped dinner, not feeling hungry and continued to search through books for something about the chamber and the monster, then began to search for stuff about memory loss and time disappearing. The clock chimed 8 o'clock and I heard movement outside my door, students talking and laughing as they passed. I followed them and saw the great hall had been changed into a dueling center. Snape and Lockhart were standing on top of a table and Lockhart was talking to the students, his usual stupid self.
I watched and nearly fell over laughing as Snape flung Lockhart smack on his ass, robes flying and he hit the wall before somehow finding his feet. I snickered a bit and leaned against a pillar as Lockhart tried to make it seem like it was all part of his plan and he could've taken Snape if he wanted. They then split the groups into pairs, Harry was paired with Malfoy and Ron was with another boy, Hermione was with some big girl with green robes. They were just about to begin, but Malfoy started early and hit Harry hard.
Harry returned the favor and the entire class were turning into a huge mess. I dodged an off-path spell and pulled out my wand, this was going too far. Snape beat me to it and settled things once and for all. Lockhart tried to pair two other students, but Snape jumped in again, putting Harry and Malfoy up. I sighed, those two must really be dumb, they are going to get those kids to hate each other forever. They began their duel, but Malfoy's spells sent a snake after Harry, which was too much for these brats.
Lockhart just pissed it off by throwing it up with his wand and the snake was facing a student, I heard a couple kids call him Justin. I moved toward him, just as Harry was doing the very same. "Leave him alone!" Harry ordered and oddly enough, the snake listened and became very docile. Everyone was in shock it seemed, but Justin turned and stormed off. Snape got rid of the snake and I caught Ron and Hermione pulling Harry away, I followed.
"You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?" they asked and Harry looked just as confused as I did, it was a rare gift that someone was a Parselmouth, and for Harry to be one was even more confusing. They seemed surprised by Harry saying he told the snake to leave Justin alone. "Snake language. I had no idea what you told that thing." I realized that I had to be a Parselmouth, because I clearly heard what Harry spoke to the snake. They continued talking, but I moved away, thoughts racing through my head.