9. The Girl in the Chamber
"No, not Hermione!" Callie exclaimed after hearing the news from Harry and Red.
"Yeah, her and Penelope Clearwater, a sixth-year," Harry said, shaking his head. "Shouldn't have left her alone, she's a muggle-born! What was I thinking?"
Callie gave him a sympathetic look and said, "Sprout says the mandrakes are almost ready. Least she won't have to be like that for long."
Harry leaned against the dungeon wall looking both miserable and determined at the same time. "Can't believe Dumbledore's gone. Just doesn't feel the same without him. Like it's not safe, ya know what I mean?"
Callie shrugged. "How safe was it before he was sacked?" she asked.
"He wasn't sacked, he coming back!" Red chimed in. To Harry he asked, "Right?"
Harry sighed. "We've got to figure this thing out."
"Well Hermione and the others will be able to say who it was once they wake up," Callie reminded them. "Then it's just a matter of catching them."
"What are you all doing, loitering around out here?" Snape called out, making them all jump. Nodding towards the potions room, he said, "Get inside."
Callie could hardly stand to listen to Malfoy kissing the professor's arse all through class. "Sir, why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?" the blond suggested.
Under her breath, Callie said, "Headmaster Snape. That'll be the day."
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Her spirits were lifted immensely when Professor McGonagall announced that the mandrakes were ready to be cut and brewed for the restoration draught. By tomorrow, those who'd been petrified would be back to themselves, and the heir of Slytherin would be revealed.
And then the happy feelings disappeared as quickly as they'd come.
Snape showed up in the common room that night. "Something's happened," he said. "A student has been taken into the Chamber of Secrets."
There were gasps all around, questions of "Are they dead?" and "Who is it?"
"A first-year girl by the name of Ginny Weasley," Snape replied, and Callie's heart sank.
"That's Red's sister," she said to Tracey.
"Where is the Chamber?" somebody asked.
"We don't know," Snape replied. "We're going to try to find that out."
Callie had never seen the man look more troubled - although he was subtle about it. Ordinarily he was cool and collected, apathetic almost. Now he seemed... distracted, his eyes not quite meeting anyone else's. She could see that he was holding his hands behind his back, grasping his wrist hard enough that it turned white.
"In the meantime," he went on, "the Hogwarts Express will be here in the morning. Everyone is to pack your belongings. You're all going home tomorrow."
Callie gathered up her things without really being conscious of her actions. All she could think about was that tiny girl she'd met on the train at the start of the year.
"Do you think she's dead?" Millicent asked. "The Weasley girl?"
"'Course she's dead," Pansy replied coldly. "Why would they keep her alive, ransom? The Weasley's aren't worth a knut."
"Shut up, Pansy," Callie said quietly. "She's only a kid."
"Maybe it's not as bad as it sounds," Tracey cut in, no doubt trying to avoid a fight. "Maybe she's just... petrified, like the others."
"Did you see his face?" Callie asked. "Snape, I mean? He looked worried."
Daphne replied, "He looked like he always looks."
Callie shook her head. "No. Ordinarily he looks like he doesn't give a damn. Tonight he didn't."
There was a pause, before Daphne said, "Maybe he's just surprised they went after a pureblood. I mean, Granger and Fletchley and all the others, that made sense. But a pureblood?"
"Maybe it's because her family's all a bunch of blood-traitors," Pansy suggested.
Callie turned on her. "Shut your mouth, Pansy, this is serious!"
"Calm down, I didn't say I'm glad the girl is dead."
"We don't know that."
Pansy stopped what she was doing, a thoughtful look on her face. "Ya know, you're right?" she said. "Why would the heir of Slytherin kill a pureblood but spare all the mudbloods. Maybe she's not dead."
"God damn it, Pansy!" Callie shouted, stepping towards her.
Throwing up her hands in defense, Pansy said, "Don't you come near me or I'll get Snape."
"Go and get him then," Callie challenged, "I dare you."
Sticking her chin up at Callie, Pansy turned on her heel and ran off toward the common room.
"Now you've gone and done it!" Tracey snapped at Callie.
Callie followed Pansy to the common room; the latter had already disappeared into the corridor. Callie stood and waited with her hands folded across her chest, ready to face Snape when either he showed up or sent someone to bring her to him.
A minute or so passed before the common room door opened up, and Callie was surprised to see Snape ushering Pansy in, practically dragging her by the back of the collar.
"Warbeck," he said, shoving Pansy forward, "you have my permission to hex her if she steps out of this room again." With that he shut the door and left.
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Looking up to the stone ceiling as she lay in bed that night, Callie wondered if she'd ever see a normal end to the Hogwarts school year. First Quirrell trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, now the Heir of Slytherin possibly killing a girl.
Suddenly Callie shot up in her bed. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, and pulled back the curtains. Whether her roommates were asleep or not, she didn't know. In less than a minute she was out of the dormitory, through the common room, and rushing to Snape's office to bang on the door.
"Professor Snape! Please, sir, it's Callie Warbeck! I need to tell you something!"
"What in God's name are you doing out of bed?"
Snape was behind her, coming out of what must have been his living quarters. Callie ran up to him.
"Sir, the Heir of Slytherin, I know who it is!" she cried.
"Oh, Merlin's beard," he said with an eye roll. "Get back to the common room, unless you want to end up in the Chamber of Secrets with the Weasley girl."
"No, sir, listen!" Callie went on, undeterred. "Slytherin's heir is You Know Who."
He froze in place, staring down at her. "Wh- What?" he choked out.
"You Know Who!" Callie repeated. "Think about it. Last year it was him behind the Quirrell thing. He hates muggle-borns, and he was a Slytherin too. He could be the heir! It has to be him, sir, somehow! I know it!"
He seemed to be seriously considering it as he stared slightly past her, but after a moment he shook his head, scoffing. "Go back to your dormitory, Warbeck, and try to dream up something a little less ludicrous."
He stepped back into his quarters and shut the door on her. Then he reappeared so he could watch her return safely back to the common room.
Climbing back into her bed, Callie thought about what she ought to do in the morning. Maybe Snape didn't believe her, but that didn't mean she was wrong. With Dumbledore gone, the next best person to go to would be McGonagall, since she was the interim headmistress now.
As she drifted off to sleep, she thought about Ginny, as well as the conversation she'd had with her dad the past summer.
What if You Know Who is out there? What if he comes back? How would he be stopped?
Well, perhaps the solution would, again, lie with Harry Potter.
"Fuck," Callie breathed into the darkness.
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Never in her life had Callie ever felt so vindicated.
She was awakened around one o'clock in the morning by Gemma Farley, who barged into the dormitory to announce that the Chamber of Secrets had been discovered, Slytherin's monster was dead, and Ginny Weasley had been saved.
"Wh- What happened?" Pansy asked in wide-eyed disbelief.
"Potter and that ginger kid went down there with Lockhart. It was a Basilisk. A bloody Basilisk!"
Everyone was called to the Great Hall for a spur-of-the-moment feast. The joyousness was overwhelming. Callie spotted Hermione at the Gryffindor table, good as new and perfectly unpetrified. Not giving a damn who saw her "fraternizing with the enemy," Callie pulled the girl in for a big hug.
"Good to have you back!" she said.
"Come on, come on!" Hermione said, waving. "Sit with us."
Callie looked over to her own table, where a lot of her housemates looked like they couldn't have cared less about the festivities. Returning her attention to Hermione, Callie said, "Sure. Thanks!"
Even though she knew she would pay for it later, she was going to enjoy the night with some decent people for a change.
Harry and Red showed up soon after, and Callie got the gist of what had gone down in the Chamber.
"It was Voldemort," Harry said.
That was all Callie needed to hear. Banging her fist down on the table, she said, "I knew it! I knew it was You Know Who!"
Wonder what he'll try next year, she thought grimly. What are the bloody odds?
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The only downside to the events of that night was that Malfoy was pissier than ever. Not only had Harry thwarted You Know Who for a third time, basking in the glory that came with such a feat, but Mr. Malfoy, Draco's father, had been kicked off the Hogwarts board of governors.
"To hell with the lot of them!" Draco yelled, pacing the common room like a madman. "Potter, that git, got my father sacked."
"What did Harry have to do with it?" Callie asked, relishing the fact that a Malfoy had gotten his arse handed to him.
"Saint Potter stuck his nose where it didn't belong! If he'd stayed out of that Chamber, then Hagrid would still be in Azkaban, and Dumbledore would still be gone and my father would still be on the board!"
"Yes, and if a box had wheels, it's be a wagon," Callie replied coolly. "Get over yourself, why don't you?"
"Have a little sympathy, Warbeck," Daphne said, only mildly interested. "His dad just lost his position."
Callie stared at her. "Sympathy?" she said. "Like the kind you had for Ginny and Hermione and Justin?"
"I never said I was happy they all got attacked," Daphne argued.
"And I never said I was happy Mr. Malfoy got sacked." But she was.
Malfoy stopped pacing and glared at Callie. "You're so lucky we're going home tomorrow," he said. "I can't stand another minute of your bullshit without hexing you."
"Well, I'll miss you too, love." She stood up and blew him a kiss. "Cheerio."
She left the common room to wander about the castle for a bit. Eventually she came to Myrtle's bathroom, the sight of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
"Hello, Callie!" Myrtle called out cheerfully.
"Hello, Myrtle. Heard there was some business her a few nights ago."
"Oh, yes!" Myrtle said. "Harry came to see me, then he went down there." She pointed to the sink in the middle of the room and whispered, "You Know Who is down there."
"Not anymore, from what I've heard." Callie looked around and noticed writing on a toilet stall. Leaning close to read it, she founds the words:
Warbeck'll shag you for 2 galleons.
"Why do they always do this in the girls bathroom?" she asked. Then she shrugged and turned back to her ghost friend. "Anyway, just wanted to tell you to have a nice summer."
"Summer's too bright. I much prefer darkness and rain."
"Well, the pipes are close to that, I guess," Callie suggested. "Bye, Myrtle," she said with a wave.
"Bye Callie. I'll save you a toilet!"
She's a decent girl, Callie thought with a smile.
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Callie stepped out of the common room for the final time, and ran into Snape on her way through the dungeons.
"Professor! I've been meaning to talk to you."
He sighed, looking just about ready to be rid her for three months. "What is it, Warbeck?" he asked.
"I take it you know what happened? Down in the Chamber, I mean?"
He studied her a moment and said, "Surely you don't think me that oblivious?"
"I mean about the heir," Callie elaborated. "You know who it was?"
His jaw was set; he seemed to be rather annoyed that she'd figured it out on her own. "Lucky guess," he said. "We'll be sure to put you in charge the next time there's a dark wizard running around."
Despite his sarcasm, Callie smiled brightly. "Lovely!" she said. "I'll bring a book to throw at him."
One of these days, the man was going to smack her. But at least she didn't have to worry about it for a while.