Hi! Here's your new chapter after my 2 week holiday break. Hope y'all enjoy it! As always, thanks to FalconHonour for beta-ing my work. Speaking of, a newly beta'd Chapter 1 is up, if you want to check it out, which I highly recommend.

Emmeline Rosier was sitting on the edge of the Black Lake, Charms textbook in hand, although she was paying very little attention to it. Fred and George Weasley were sitting a dozen feet away, planning on stealing or, as they would probably put it, 'liberating' a salamander from Care of Magical Creatures. Fred looked up to see her staring at them and grinned. Emmeline went red and busied herself with her book, but continued to watch the two out of the corner of her eye. George Weasley laughed at something his twin said, and ambled back up onto the castle as Fred Weasley started making his way towards Emmeline. She hurriedly started reading, although the words weren't really registering in her head. Still, she had a pretence to keep up, so she didn't let herself react even as Fred dropped down beside her.

"Are you really going to pretend you're cramming for Charms, when you and I both know you're the top of our class in Charms and you've known how to do-" he leaned over to see what chapter she was on- "a Summoning Charm for nearly a year now? "

The corners of Emmeline's mouth twitched, before she smoothed them out. "Is that so, Fred Weasley?"

Fred broke out into a grin. "I knew you knew which one I was."

Emmeline rolled her eyes slightly. "It's not that hard. I mean, you're a little taller than George, quarter of an inch or so. Your hair is a shade or two lighter than his. And he's got freckles on the back of his ears, while you don't, but you have a smattering of freckles right underneath your right eye that looks like the Big Dipper." She blushed. "I don't watch you or anything, it's just kind of obvious."

Fred smirked, "Didn't know you noticed that. I mean, it's pretty hard to get all that from not watching someone."

"Well I guess I'm just observant."

"Maybe." Fred paused. "You know, from not watching you and all that, I've discovered that your hair is not actually black, though it looks like it from a distance. It's just a very very dark brown. Coffee-coloured, I'd call it. But in the sunlight you can see little streaks of dark auburn. But it's just kind of obvious. Like you said."

They sat quietly for a moment.

"I've noticed that even though you sit at the back of the classroom and slack off most of the time, you're really rather brilliant at creating your own spells back there. Even if they aren't what we're learning."

"I've noticed you've got a wicked aim with a Bludger."

"You do too." Emmeline blushed again. "I guess."

Fred smiled at her. "I've noticed that there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up."

Emmeline looked at him. "I've noticed that your voice carries." She bit her lip. "And that I would go with you if you were able to liberate one of the salamanders."

"Really?" Fred shot up, "You'll go to Hogsmeade with me? For a date?"

Emmeline shrugged lightly. "That's what I said, wasn't it?"

"I'll free all the salamanders for you!" Fred declared, "I'll go back to the castle right now, George and I need to start planning. This is the most important thing we have ever had to pull off," He looked back at Emmeline who was clearly bemused. He offered her a hand, "Would you like to come back to the castle with me? I can escort you to the Slytherin common room. If you like."

Emmeline offered him a small smile. "Sure." She took his hand and stood up, and they started on the path back to the main entrance, "Ginny's doing quite well in Slytherin. She's a very sweet girl. Has a lot of personality. She doesn't back down, either, which is rather admirable."

Fred grinned, "Yeah." He cleared his throat, "I, er, couldn't help but notice that you both got new broomsticks."

Emmeline nodded, "A gift from the Malfoy family. And, yeah, okay, we said it was for the team because Draco made Seeker, but it was for Ginny's sake, really. Narcissa took her out shopping a bit ago, you know, to get that new wand of hers, and when Ginny mentioned that she liked flying, Narcissa bought her a Nimbus 2001."

"Just like that?" Fred couldn't help the way his eyebrows shot up. When Emmeline nodded again, he whistled slowly, "You know, it's just... my parents, they've always told us, well, things about the Malfoys. Slytherins in general, if I'm being honest, but the Malfoys in particular. I mean, I've always known that what they said was rubbish, but you've all been really great to Ginny, and that's all I could ever ask for. The day she came in wearing not just new robes, but high-end, tailored ones, with a brand new wand and quills and all sorts of things, I knew that Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy had to be really special people to do all that for a girl they'd barely met. Especially the wand. George and I saved up everything we'd ever gotten from Christmas and our birthdays and spent it all to get ourselves new wands before first year. I mean, there were old ones in the family that worked but, you know how wands are. And Ginny-well-she deserves something that's all her own, you know? I would've bought her a new wand myself if I had the money for it, even if it took up every Knut I had, but…" Fred paused, flushed, blew out his cheeks and finally admitted, " George and I only had a total of four Galleons and 12 Sickles saved up, and well, that doesn't buy a wand."

Emmeline smiled softly at Fred, "You're a really good brother."

Fred mussed with his hair, "Thanks." And then there they were, at the entrance to the Slytherin common room. "Do you want me to start heading back? So I don't hear the password and all that?"

Emmeline looked at him, and seemingly came to a decision. "They change every so often anyways. So...as long as you don't try to pull anything," She paused, "Bubotuber." The wall came to life, the bricks sliding away to reveal a fairly empty common room, and turned back to him in the doorway. "Have a good day, Fred."

Fred offered her a smile, before starting to walk away. "You too, Emmeline."

Emmeline thought for a moment, and called out, "Fred?"

He turned back around. "Yeah?"

She smirked, eyes gleaming, "I've noticed that Professor Kettleburn usually spends Tuesday nights drinking a nightcap with Professor Flitwick."

A large grin split the Gryffindor's face.

Hermione wandered through the largest Hogwarts courtyard. It was a chilly Saturday afternoon, but more importantly, it was Samhain, and she was on a mission. Hermione spotted Hannah sitting on a bench by a patch of orange mums, sucking on a sugar quill. She made her way across the courtyard, and plopped down on the bench next to Hannah.

"Hi, Hermione. Happy Samhain!" Hannah smiled.

"Happy one year anniversary of us taking down a troll!" Hermione teased.

Hannah laughed. "Gosh, time flies, doesn't it?"

"I know. And to celebrate-" Hermione pulled out her wand, and waved it, causing a stream of confetti to burst from the tip and rain down on the two girls. "Confetti!"

Hannah burst into giggles, "It is something to celebrate isn't it? Not dying at the hands of a bloodthirsty Mountain Troll in the girl's bathrooms?"

Hermione laughed, but she was not the only one that did. The other laugh came from a bronze-haired, grey-eyed boy, who was tall and very handsome, Hermione noted.

"That sounds like a story I have to hear."

"Cedric Diggory!" Hannah cried out, "Were you eavesdropping?"

The boy-Cedric Diggory - Hermione corrected herself - grinned at Hannah easily, a teasing glint in his eye. "Well, after seeing a second year pull out some confetti, I had to know what the fuss was all about."

"Hermione," Hannah turned to her Slytherin friend, "This is Cedric Diggory. He's my House Buddy."

Before Hermione could ask what a House Buddy was, Hannah waved her hand, "It's a Hufflepuff thing, you get someone two years ahead of you as your House Buddy. They look after you until you're a third year and then you return the favour for the incoming first years. Oh, and he's also the Seeker for Hufflepuff."

"Nice to meet you, Cedric," Hermione smiled. "And Hannah, I know that I'm not absolutely obsessed with Quidditch, but I do know who the Seekers are for each house. Give me some credit here."

Cedric seemed bemused. "You don't like Quidditch?"

Hermione rolled her eyes lightly, "Well, I like watching it when my friends are playing, and I can keep score and whatever, but I don't get the obsession around it."

"She also hates flying," Hannah inserted.

"I don't hate flying, I just don't care for it. It's the heights and falling off that I hate."

"And yet she's never fallen off."

"Doesn't mean I'm not afraid of it," Hermione said lightly.

Cedric grinned, "Like how Hannah's afraid of eating potatoes?"

Hermione's eyes lit up.

"I am not afraid of potatoes, I just don't eat them! Being afraid of a potato is ridiculous," Hannah shot back.

"Avoidance, fear…" Hermione trailed off. "What's the difference, really?"

"Well this is all very well and good," said Hannah, flushing scarlet, "Didn't Cedric come over here to learn about our troll-slaying adventures?"

"That was the worst attempt at subtly changing a subject ever, Hannah," Cedric teased.

"He's right, you know," said Hermione, "Pansy would be disappointed."

"But I would like to hear the story about you two defeating a troll, although I'm quite sure it's not as dramatic as you're making it out to be."

Hannah smiled, "No, actually, it kind of was. See, Ron Weasley had said something really nasty to me in Herbology that day, and I was upset. Hermione followed me into the girls' loo after Charm to help calm me down, and we missed the Samhain feast because of it. So, we didn't know there was a troll in Hogwarts until it came into the bathroom. So...we fought it off. With spells. Hermione cast this one really brilliant one with these birds that started attacking him out of nowhere, which was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. And then we managed to Stun it at the same time, so it fell down, and we only just got out of the way in time," Hannah finished breathlessly.

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Hermione nodded. "Even got points for it too, for, as Professor Snape called it, sheer luck and skill."

Cedric looked dumbfounded for a moment, and then threw his head back in laughter. Hermione thought that he had quite a nice laugh.

That night at the feast, Hermione laughed herself sick at the Samhain festivities. Although Dumbledore insisted on calling it Halloween, that was most certainly not what Slytherin was celebrating. It was Ginny's second time celebrating something in honour of Lady Magic, but Mabon hadn't meant all that much to her when she had celebrated on September 21st, as she hadn't had as much time to learn about Magic.

"I don't know who I'd really try and talk to, you know?" Ginny said, as she grabbed a decadent candy apple from a platter in the middle of the table. "The only people in my family that I know anything about that've died are my grandparents on both sides, and my Mum's brothers-Fabian and Gideon. My Weasley grandparents were rotters, and my Prewett grandparents were terribly boring when they were alive. Hated going over to their house when I was little. Supposedly Fabian and Gideon were pretty cool. But I never met them, you know? Maybe Fred and George'll try to summon Fabian and Gideon next year, they've always looked up to them. But they don't really know anything about Magic yet. When can I tell them about that?"

"You can tell them whenever, really," shrugged Daphne, "Although most people tend to wait until they're an Honorary Slytherin. You can try and get them voted in at the next House Meeting, which should be midway through November."

"So, Ginny, how's first year going anyways?" Draco asked.

Ginny's face lit up. "Pretty great, actually. I'm better at Potions than I thought I'd be, and I think I like Astronomy a lot. At least, I really like Professor Sinistra. Transfiguration is a little weird with Professor McGonagall, I don't think she knows what to think of me. I mean, I think she likes me well enough, but I'm the first Slytherin Weasley in like...ever. And with all my brothers, she's probably still trying to figure out where I fall on the scale from Percy to the twins."

"Hermione over here has got Professor McGonagall wrapped around her little finger," Theo smirked.

"How?" asked Ginny. "Well, besides being a prodigy at literally everything."

"I have no idea," said Hermione lightly, "On a completely unrelated note, have I ever mentioned how good I am at crying on cue and coming out of any situation without looking remotely suspicious?"

Pansy snorted, "The only teacher who doesn't absolutely adore you is Binns. And that's only because he's been dead for three hundred years. I mean, you don't even like Lockhart and he practically dotes on you and Daphne."

Daphne growled, "That's because he's an idiot who can't tell when someone is placating him because he's being a moron."

It was true. Whenever Daphne had to deal with Lockhart, she masked her emotions behind a Perfect-Pure-blood-Princess facade exaggerated to the point of hyperbole. Anyone who wasn't missing half a brain knew it was fake. Even some of the Gryffindors giggled at her antics. Lockhart was the only one who didn't catch on.

"We make excellent damsels in distress," Hermione shrugged, "He'd do it to you too, Pansy, but you don't even try to hide that you hate him."

"I refuse to let stupid people think that they are anything but stupid. I can't wait until the DADA Curse gets to him. Maybe he'll be like Quirrell and drop dead," Pansy grinned as she turned to Blaise. "Blaise, do you think your mother could try and snag him, or is he not rich enough for her?"

By the time the feast was over, Hermione and her friends were some of the first people out of the Great Hall, laughing over a Lockhart impression Theo was pulling, with Blaise filling in for his mother.

"Oh, Gilderoy," Blaise said dramatically, fluttering his lashes at Theo, "You're so smart and funny and handsome."

Theo puffed out his chest, trying to imitate Lockhart's gait. "I know-"

But whatever he was about to say was cut off by Daphne's shrill scream. And there it was, on the wall, lit by two ominously flickering torches upon the wall, written in the color of blood that had yet to dry.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

But that? That was not the worst of it. What was truly terrifying was Argus Filch's mangy old cat, Mrs. Norris, hanging from her tail from a torch bracket, her legs stuck in odd angles as if she was jumping mid-air. She was absolutely frozen. Unblinking, stiff, and unmoving. Hermione would have thought that the cat was dead if its limbs had been at all limp.

It took her a moment to register anything other than the cat, but all of a sudden she realised that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were standing there, gaping at the wall, and they had obviously been doing so for some time. Had they-?

While she considered that possibility, more and more people started coming in from either side. More people meant more murmurs, more whispers. Some of the newcomers shrieked, just as Daphne had done, at the horrific sight.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" Attracted no doubt by the shrill screams, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd.

Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. He looked at Potter. "You!" he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll —"

"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Potter and Weasley and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.

"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley."

Lockhart stepped forward eagerly. My office is nearest, Headmaster — just upstairs — please feel free —"

"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore. The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape. Hermione saw Draco catching his godfather's eye, to which the Professor had stared at him, subtly passing under the boy's Occlumency walls.

Draco turned to the group, and in a hushed whisper said, "I let Uncle Sev pass through my Occlumency Shields-he said he'd tell us what happened later."

"He'd better," Pansy muttered, "I'm going to go find Hannah." And with that, the dark-haired girl turned on her heel and stalked off in search of their Hufflepuff friend.

In the Slytherin common room, there was a rather large and loud House Debate going on.

"The cat was dead, Winnie! Professor Trewaleny said something would die this October, and look!"

"Maureen, two weeks ago you were convinced that the death she was talking about was your plant in Herbology! And anyways, the cat isn't dead-it wouldn't have been erect!"

"You know what else is erect-"

"Shut up, Travis!"

"The Chamber of Secrets was made by Slytherin-"

"So the Heir has to be a descendent of Slytherin!"

"But there aren't any Gaunts in our house, are there?"

"I imagine that if there were anybody connected to the Gaunts you'd be able to tell. They'd have three eyes or something, they're so inbred."

"And I imagine being able to trace your family directly back to Slytherin would be something anyone would brag about."

"What if they're in a different house?"

"Why wouldn't they be in Slytherin? If they're a direct descendent, they would be in Slytherin, right? I mean, the Smiths are always in Hufflepuff-"

"Yeah okay, but they know that they're descended from Hufflepuff. If there was some random Muggle-born who came from a line of squibs that led back to Ravenclaw, they wouldn't necessarily be in Ravenclaw, would they?"

"More of an expectation thing? Nature versus nurture and all that?"

"What if it's a teacher?"

"Well the only new teacher this year is Lockhart, right?"

"If it turns out he's descended from Slytherin, I'll jump off the Astronomy Tower."

Amidst the chaos, Blaise cleared his throat, "Can anybody explain to the Italian who doesn't know a lick about Hogwarts history or any of that what the hell a Chamber of Secrets is? It sounds like some sort of sex dungeon or something."

"Blaise!" Hermione hit his arm, scandalised.

It seemed that Thomas had heard Blaise because he shot his wand into the air, creating blasting noises, causing everyone to quiet, "Alright everyone!" he shouted, their attention focused on him, "We're going to sit down and Carrine can tell the story of the Chamber of Secrets, and anyone who has anything to add can raise their hands and we can discuss it civilly. We are Slytherins, not Gryffindors."

Carrine cleared her throat. "I don't know all too much about Hogwarts History-is there anyone that does?"

Daphne, who had been quietly stewing, wearing what Hermione knew to be her thinking face-the face she wore when she was trying to recall everything she knew about a Historical Event or figure or whatever, shot up like a Filibuster's Firework. "I do!"

Pansy-who had rejoined them by then - snorted, "And in other breaking news from the Daily Prophet, grass is green."

Daphne made her way up to the front of the room by the fireplace, and stood on one of the chairs, before looking at Carrine a bit uncertainly, who nodded at her. Daphne straightened up, and pulled back her shoulders. The entire House of Slytherin looked on, waiting.

"Well, when the Founders founded Hogwarts, it was the first major school for learning Witchcraft and Wizardry. At the time, of course, Muggles were burning Witches and Wizards at the stake, and since most were largely untrained, only learning what had been taught to them by their parents, a lot of magical people were killed. So they wanted to remedy that by building a school-somewhere people could get a comprehensive magical education. Salazar Slytherin didn't hate Muggle-borns, he just...didn't really like them all that much. Which wasn't great, but he didn't want to commit mass-genocide on them." The common room collectively flinched, memories of You-Know-Who and the marks left by the war still tender.

After a moment, Daphne continued. "But he did hate Muggles. And can you blame him? They were burning Wizards and Witches at the stake left, right, and centre So, he thought that they should be more selective, per sae, when choosing students, as many recruitments of Muggle-born students had led to close calls with the Muggles in the students' families. Maybe even keeping them out, which was kind of prejudiced on his part. This led to a rather big argument between him and Godric Gryffindor over all the Muggle-borns, which ended up with Slytherin leaving the school. But apparently, according to his old journals, he built a Secret Chamber within Hogwarts, to protect its students from those who told Muggles about magic, which by-and-large tended to be the Muggle-born. I mean it was bigoted, him kind of basically targeting the Muggle-borns with the Chamber, but it was supposed to be a last-resort kind of thing, not that that's really any excuse." Daphne took a deep breath.

"Anyway, supposedly, nobody would be able to open the Chamber until Slytherin's 'true heir' came to Hogwarts, who would be able to use whatever's in the Chamber to rid the school of anything or anybody they perceived to be dangerous. But of course, that all depends on what the Heir wanted to do. I mean, they could set whatever is in the Chamber on someone who insulted them, if they liked, so if the Heir was a complete nutter psychopath, they could even decide to murder the whole of the school. Apparently, the Chamber was opened about fifty years ago, and a Muggle-born named Myrtle Warren died, although it was all hushed up by the Ministry. According to the Ministry records, the person who opened the Chamber was none other than Rubeus Hagrid, our current groundskeeper."

Murmurs broke out.

"Why's he still here then?" someone called out.

Daphne shrugged, "I suppose Dumbledore felt sorry for him or something. Besides, I don't think Hagrid really opened the Chamber. He's clearly part giant, and if the Gaunts thought they were too good to reproduce with anyone but themselves, I doubt that they would've introduced Giant-Blood into their line."

And with that, Daphne hopped off the chair and made her way back over towards Hermione. "How'd you know all that?" Hermione asked. "I mean, I get knowing some of it through all the stories and legends, but like the stuff about fifty years ago? I didn't know that."

"I learned about the Chamber a couple of years ago, and then I started asking around. Uncle Lucius knew a bit and then pointed me in the direction of Walburga Black, so I ended up going over to Grimmauld and asking her. And as ghastly as Walburga was, she had gone to school during the time the Chamber was opened for the first time, and so she was able to tell me everything that happened. Of course she used the m-slur more times than I could count and then said that it was a shame that the Heir didn't kill more Muggle-borns. But through all the bigotry, I was able to get out what had happened."

Then Professor Snape came through the common room, and everyone fell quiet.

"It appears the cat was petrified."

And then pandemonium erupted once again.

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