A/N: This story is going on hiatus for awhile; sorry if this inconveniences anyone! I've got some prior commitments, and other stories that are whining for my attention like annoying younger siblings. So…don't expect updates any time soon. And I'm sorry this is so short! Such is life. Read on!
Chapter 13—What's the Chamber?
"What's going on here? What's going on?" Filch elbowed through the students with scant regard for bruised toes or feelings. The second his eyes lit on his lifeless cat, his expression changed dramatically. It looked as though someone had told him his wife died. He staggered back, hands up around his face. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" No one seemed in any great hurry to tell him, and Malfoy slipped back into the crowd, with the air of a mission accomplished. It didn't take Filch long to land his eyes on Potter and his friends. "You!" he yelled, "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll—"
"Argus!" Ryan hadn't seen Dumbledore arrive, but all the students parted to let the Headmaster pass. How does the man know? wondered Ryan admiringly. He passed near her, along with several other teachers. He swept past Potter and his friends, paying them no attention as he gently disentangled Mrs. Norris from the torch sconce. Only then did he deign to look at the delinquent students. Ryan took a good look at them, wondering if any of them actually had killed the cat. Potter looked uneasy about something…maybe he was feeling guilty?
"Come with me, Argus," said Dumbledore, "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasely, Miss Granger." Lockhart stepped up, but McGonagall began scattering the gathered students.
"Go, back to your common rooms! Prefects, make sure no one ventures outside until breakfast tomorrow!" And then she followed Dumbledore, Filch, and Potter. Ryan turned, trying to fight her way through the crowds back to Ben and Finn. But she was too far apart from them, and almost ended up being pushed along with some Gryffindors, had Penny not been on the alert. Ryan felt the back of her robe being tugged on, and the next thing she knew, she was jogging alongside her prefect.
"Careful! You have to learn to go against crowds like this, or there's no telling where you'll end up!" Penny's face was dead white, as though she had seen her death foretold.
"Penelope, what was that? What was that writing talking about? Who killed Mrs. Norris?" she asked. They slowed as they neared the group of Ravenclaws.
"I'll tell you later," she said grimly, and pushed her way through. "Excuse me! Let me through, all of you! I am your prefect!" She managed to make her way to the head of the column, ensuring that she was the first in the common room. "No one go up to your dormitories! Stay right here in the common room! Fi, go get my copy of Hogwarts, A History, and I may not tell mum about your hair." Wordless, and obviously as shaken as her sister, Fi dashed upstairs and returned seconds later with the unwieldy volume. Penny took it and started flipping through pages.
"Everyone, make yourselves comfortable. How many purebloods or older students know about the Chamber of Secrets?" Several people raised their hands, including chatty Ruby.
"Come off it, Penny, you don't believe that fairy tale, do you?"
"I believe what I see, Steinbauer," she said, deadly serious. Ruby backed down, still looking highly skeptical. "Now then, for those of you that don't know…here it is. I'll leave this out, but kindly don't take it out of the common room, please." She cleared her throat and began to read.
"'Concerning the mythical Chamber of Secrets: Salazar Slytherin, whom you have read as one of the four Founders, was rumored to have built a secret chamber, without the permission or knowledge of the other Founders. Contained therein, the legend says, is a monster only the true heir of Slytherin can control.'"
"Why make a secret chamber at all?" argued Padma.
"It talks about that in here, too. Apparently, Slytherin got into an argument about who to let into Hogwarts. He wanted to keep out Muggleborns, all of them. Said they weren't worthy enough to study here…yes, and the monster would…would 'cleanse' the school of…people Slytherin considered undeserving of magical knowledge." There was a silence in the common room. Ryan traded uneasy glances with Ben and Fi. Ben had said Potter could protect them from You-Know-Who, but this was a monster. Who would protect them now?
"Why Filch, then? He isn't Muggleborn, is he?" asked Cho.
"No! Didn't you know, Cho? He's a Squib!" giggled Ruby. Ben laughed at that, and so did Finn, but Ryan didn't quite get it. She would ask Fi, later.
"Come on, Penny. This is all well and good," said Roger Davies, "but where is this chamber?"
"Grow a brain, Roger. No one knows, hence the title 'secret chamber'," snapped Penny. "No trace of one was ever found."
"Then you know what? I think it's just someone's idea of a bad joke."
"I'm not laughing," said Cho, "are you? If it's a joke, it's a very sick one. What about Penny? She's Muggleborn! She could be in danger!" Fi tugged on Ryan's sleeve.
"Come on, let's go up to the dorm," she muttered. "I can tell you all about this." Ryan was glad at least one person could. They slipped quietly out of the common room, where the older set was in a heated debate on whether or not the chamber actually existed. Fi and Ryan had the common room to themselves. Ryan sat on the edge of Fi's bed.
"So…what's up with this chamber of yours?"