In this chapter, our heroes will be invited for a deathday party.
It's like a birthday party, only for ghosts.
This is Nearly Headless Nick's 500th birthday party.
And yes, this is how we know the years of Harry Potter's term at school. It's simple math.
Good luck counting to 500 though. Not even Dumbledore can do it!
Chapter 19: Happy Deathday
Neville wrote in the diary.
"Dear Diary, today Ginny did something heroic! She saved us all from the pixies!" exclaimed the boy. He didn't know what he would have done without her.
It was truly a memorable Defense against the Dark Arts class. And it was impressive what a first year could do. Though he already knew that when Mary defeated Professor Quirrell.
Though he wondered why Gilderoy Lockhart wasn't able to do it himself.
Wasn't he a legendary wizard?
They had swiped his wand, but still.
Fascinating. I was a hero myself back in my day. All the Slytherins were proud of me. They said I was a credit to their house, and that they were glad that the Sorting Hat had me join them.
"That's very interesting." spoke Neville. Though he had helped stop Voldemort's return last year. He wasn't going to be using the Sorcerer's Stone, that's for sure.
And he probably wouldn't be drinking any more unicorn blood, either.
I'm sure if you look hard enough, you'll find a trophy of me somewhere.
Writing in the diary made him feel a bit funny…
…but he figured it was probably nothing.
At Gryffindor House, Ron had something to say.
Something that everyone would be interested in.
And no, it was not that he was an uncover Death Eater.
He would never join them. Even if he was a pure blooded wizard.
"Hey everyone! I have an exciting announcement to make!" exclaimed Ron.
"What exciting announcement would that be?" asked Hermione.
"Mr. Filch…is a Squib!" shouted the ginger boy.
"He is?!" shouted George. Perhaps that was why he seemed grumpy all the time. Being a squib would make him the black sheep of his family.
The Gryffindors were surprised by this information.
"Mr. Filch is a squid? Maybe he should be in a lake." questioned Mary.
There was one not far from the castle.
Fred simply laughed.
"No, Mary. He's a Squib. With a b. Though his parents were wizards, he turned out to be a Muggle."
"So, he's the opposite of Hermione?" asked Mary. She seemed to recall her parents being regular dentists. It must have been a real surprise when they found out their daughter was a wizard.
"Pretty much." answered Hermione. Though they were both rather lawful, and Hermione considered getting a cat next year.
"My grandmother used to think I was a squib." noted Neville.
However, he turned out not to be a squib. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be at Hogwarts.
Suddenly, Nearly Headless Nick wandered into the tower.
His friends called him Nick for short.
"I know you! You're our house ghost!" exclaimed Mary.
Nick nodded.
However, he seemed upset about something.
"What's wrong?" asked the girl who lived.
"The Headless Hunt is coming to Hogwarts…but the problem is, I'm not headless!" exclaimed Nick.
It was too bad he was killed by a blunt axe, not a sharp one. It would have been less painful too.
"Oh." comprehended Mary.
He must feel left out.
"What am I going to do?" questioned the ghost who had practically been decapitated.
"Well, you'll always have a place in Gryffindor." assured Mary.
"That's very thoughtful of you. Would you like to attend my Deathday Party?" questioned Nearly Headless Nick.
"Sure." nodded the girl.
She had attended Dudley's birthday parties, after all.
Though not a lot of people seemed to come to those birthday parties. You didn't have a lot of friends when you kept bullying kids.
Mary was given an invitation. It had a skull on it.
"Wait, your deathday is on October 31st." said the girl who lived…who ironically was going to attend a deathday party.
"Are you busy this Halloween?" asked Nick.
He would understand if she was. Though when you were a ghost, you basically had all the time in the world.
"No. It's just that…that's the day my parents died." noted Mary.
Killed by the darkest wizard of all time. The one whose name was hardly ever spoken.
"I'm sorry to hear that. But what were the chances?" questioned the ghost who was almost decapitated.
"1 in 365." said the girl with glasses.
"Maybe they'll be at my deathday party then." noted the Gryffindor house ghost.
"I dunno. If they were ghosts, I think they would have visited me by now." spoke Mary. It would be scary, sure, but being reunited with her parents would be nice.
"Oh…well, not all wizards become ghosts. It depends on whether they were afraid to die or not." explained Nick.
By that logic, perhaps her parents were angels, not ghosts.
Mary was allowed to being some friends with her. After all, Nick's friends were going to be at the party.
She chose Ron and Hermione.
The deathday party had rotten food, so our heroes couldn't eat it without getting sick…unfortunately.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn't well-lit at the party. Good thing our heroes knew Lumos.
Ghosts had very different tastes in food from the living.
At the party were the other three house ghosts. It was a bit unusual seeing them all together at once, as they typically hung around near the common rooms of their respective houses.
There was the Bloody Baron, the house ghost of Slytherin. Would the blood stain on his clothes ever come out? It was a mystery.
There was also the Fat Friar, the house ghost of Hufflepuff. Contrary to popular belief, he did not die from cardiac arrest. Though maybe he should consider eating his vegetables.
And last but not least, Helena Ravenclaw, better known as the Grey Lady. She was the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw.
Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious, she was the house ghost of Ravenclaw.
And yes, the Headless Hunt were there.
They were currently playing head volleyball.
Nearly Headless Nick was disappointed he couldn't join them. Why couldn't it have been a sharp axe?
The Fat Friar comforted him…right before gorging on the food that was on the table.
"Would you please save some for us?" asked Helena.
"Sorry! Forgot there were other people here!" apologized the chubby ghost.
Peeves was having a field day at the party.
He was blowing up balloons.
"That ghost looks an awful lot like you." remarked Ron.
"Really?" asked Mary.
She was known as Moaning Myrtle.
For some reason, she always seemed upset about something.
Maybe Peeves could cheer her up? The poltergeist was a total clown.
Eventually, the party was over.
"After that party I could use something a bit more…full of life." noted Ron.
"You're in luck. We have herbology class today." noted Hermiome.
In herbology class, they were learning about mandrakes.
Pomana Sprout, head of Hufflepuff was in charge of that class.
"Greetings everyone! Before we begin, what can you tell us about mandrakes?" questioned Pomana Sprout.
"We can use them for potions. Potions that can heal the ill…or the petrified as the case may be." explained Hermione.
She happened to like to read about magical creatures. Though there was a lot she read about.
"Good answer. Ten points to Gryffindor." rewarded the teacher.
"You need to be careful though, because they scream really loudly." continued the Muggle-born.
"That's another ten points for Gryffindor." said the head of Hufflepuff.
Mandrakes indeed had a loud scream that could damage one's hearing, but only if they were uprooted.
Baby mandrakes were relatively harmless. but they could still knock you out if you were unfortunate.
When they reached adulthood, they could be used to cure the petrified.
In order to do that, one had to chop them up, which was…morbid. Hopefully Pomana Sprout could stomach it.
To protect her students from the screams, they were given earmuffs.
"These earmuffs sure are comfy." remarked Mary. Perhaps she could ask Pomana Sprout if she could have some for the winter.
"What's that? I can't hear you." answered Ron.
Unfortunately, Neville didn't put his on properly, so he passed out.
The girl who lived quickly woke him up.
"My ears are ringing…" remarked Neville.
"They can do that." noted Hermione.
Afterwards, Mary ate some chocolate frogs.
However, Croaky noticed…and she was terrified.
"Don't worry! These aren't actual frogs!" assured Mary.
Croaky let out a croak of relief.
Unfortunately, all would not be well this Halloween.
That night, Mary heard an evil laugh that sent a chill down her spine. It seemed appropriate that something spooky would happen on Halloween, other than the Deathday Party.
It sounded much like the voice she had heard earlier back when her second year at Hogwarts started.
She decided to check to see if she could find the source of the voice.
"Yes…it's time for me to kill…their screams will echo throughout the castle…"
Something told her that this monster was up to no good. In fact, it seemed like it was planning to kill somebody.
For some strange reason, the corridor she ended up in had been flooded.
She was currently on the first floor.
"I think somebody should call the plumber." thought Mary out loud. Hogwarts could afford a plumber, couldn't they?
In addition to the flooded corridor, there were some spiders making a break for it.
It seemed like there was some sort of predator nearby.
"Run away! Run while you still can!" exclaimed one of the spiders.
Mary noted that the spiders seemed to be in a hurry.
Which was strange, since she thought they liked it at Hogwarts.
Maybe she should talk to them if they ever stopped running.
They might have something important to say.
Suddenly, she discovered Mrs. Norris.
She had been petrified!
"What happened? Did she encounter Fluffy?" questioned Mary.
According to Hagrid, he decided to have Fluffy live in the Forbidden Forest. So it seemed unusual that she would manage to find him.
Alternatively, perhaps all the water terrified her, seeing as she was a cat.
Either one seemed possible.
One thing was for sure, she needed to get her to Madam Pomfrey.
She wasn't sure whether she was a vet or not, but she had to do something. Mrs. Norris could die otherwise. And judging from how big Nearly Headless Nick's party was, there was already enough ghosts at Hogwarts as it was.
So she brought the cat to Madam Pomfrey right away.
She explained that Mrs. Norris had indeed been petrified.
Though she didn't know for sure what had caused that.
It didn't appear to be the work of a spell.
Though given how much people disliked Mr. Filch, it wouldn't be surprising if somebody did cast a spell on his cat.
Speaking of Filch, the unpleasant man suddenly burst into the infirmary, not long after Mary entered.
He knew thar something terrible had happened to his pet, and he wanted answers.
"What happened to my cat?!" exclaimed Mr. Filch.
And yes, even he had loved ones.
Unfortunately for him, somebody had started a rumor that he was a Squib…which was unfortunately true. How he wished he was able to use magic.
What was he going to do now?
And yes, it was ironic that something like this had happened to a black cat. The so-called harbingers of misfortune.
Unfortunately, not even Dumbledore himself was able to reverse it.
Chances are there was a potion that would work though.
Snape and Pomana Sprout would be working together on this one, differing as they were in personality.
For bringing the cat to the infirmary, Dumbledore awarded Mary twenty points.
"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore!" exclaimed Mary.
"If you see anybody else that has been petrified, be sure to let me know." said the professor.
Of course, hopefully nobody else would be petrified.
He didn't want anything happening to his students. He made it all too clear how much he cared about them. Even the Slytherins.
And besides, misfortune befalling them would affect his reputation as headmaster.
Suddenly, Ginny approached Mary.
"Somebody wrote on the walls!" exclaimed the ginger girl…which was alliterative.
"McGonagall is not going to be happy with them." noted Mary.
She was probably going to make them wash it off….and dock the offender house points.
"It's more complicated than that! Take a look!" shouted the Weasley girl.
The girl who lived decided to do so.
Many students had gathered around it already.
The writing on the wall was disturbing to say the least.
It also helped that it was written in dark red letters, as if they were written in blood.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ALL WHO OPPOSE THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN SHALL PERISH.
Mary shivered. Who could have written something so sinister?
Did this have something to do with what happened to Mrs. Norris? Her petrified body wasn't far from where the message was written.
Perhaps she should do a bit of research on the Chamber of Secrets.
It might help her determine what was going on.
And besides, it sounded like people were in danger.
Did Draco write this by any chance?
Then again, she had learned last year the obvious suspect wasn't necessarily the culprit.
And she figured Malfoy wouldn't do anything that would get him expelled, even if he had lost his house many points.
Draco wondered who this Heir of Slytherin was.
Would his dad know about it?
Maybe he should write him a letter.
He just might know who this mysterious heir might be. He had been in Slytherin himself, after all.
Alternatively, he could try going to the library and studying Salazar Slytherin, who was the founder and namesake of the house…
…but he owed the librarian two library books.
He needed to remember to give them back.
Otherwise he would lose points for his house.
Ans he already lost points due to his "nasty language."
What was wrong with saying the muddy word?
Meanwhile, Neville wondered how he had gone from being in Gryffindor Tower to being right outside of it.
To make matters worse, he forgot the password.
"Oh man!" exclaimed the boy.
Why was that so hard to remember?
Uh-oh! It looks like Hogwarts is in trouble!
I'm afraid this is only the beginning of a living nightmare.
Who could have possibly opened the Chamber of Secrets?
Was it Dumbledore?
Well, you might know it already.
But I can assure you I'm not following the exact same storyline as the books. Some changes have been made.
I figured the fanfic would be more interesting that way.