Harry and Ron were in a sullen mood that coming lunchtime. Between Ron fearing a slug would appear every time he opened his mouth and their coming detention later that night they were miserable.
"At least once you've done this detention that's it. The car will be forgotten." Bella comforted.
"You'd have to be daft to think I won't hear it from mum when we go home." Ron sighed.
"Well I was trying to comfort you, I'm not exactly going to tell you what you don't want to hear." Bella replied.
For the remainder of the day the pair barely said a word and with a grumbled goodbye they boys left the common room later that night for their respective detentions.
"Personally, I think Harry will have a wonderful time in detention, which isn't really a detention at all." Hermione sighed.
"You're joking, right?" Bella replied. "Lockhart's daft."
"He is not!" Emily said.
"He's excellent." Freya added.
"Whatever you say." Bella said with a roll of her eyes.
Bella spent the rest of her night in the common room waiting for Ron and Harry to finish their detentions. The common room had been vacant for an hour but still Bella sat waiting. Harry trudged in a little while later, looking a little worse for wear.
"What's up?" Bella asked as he sank into the seat beside her.
"Just something that happened in detention. I'll explain when Ron gets here." Harry took his glasses from his face and rubbed his forehead.
A few minutes later Ron trudged through the portrait hole in much the same fashion as Harry had. He sank onto the sofa on Bella's other side and sighed.
"I hate Filch."
Bella chuckled as Ron grumbled.
"What's going on Harry?" Bella asked.
"There was a voice. In Lockhart's classroom. It said it wanted to kill. Lockhart said he couldn't hear it but I swear I heard it."
"Where was it coming from?" Ron asked.
"Inside the walls." Harry stated.
"Inside the walls?" Bella questioned.
"Yeah. It wasn't as if there was someone in the classroom that we couldn't see, the door was shut. It sounded as if it was in the walls."
"That's so strange." Ron commented.
"I know, I don't understand it either."
"No! You don't add that until the end! How many times do I have to tell you!"
Unfortunately for Bella she was still partnered with Draco in Potions and the pair were attempting to make a cure for boils.
"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot you were the Potions King!" Bella mocked.
"Oh shove over and let me do it." Draco moaned, pushing her to the side slightly.
"I'm more than capable of making the potion." She seethed pushing him back.
Draco's hand caught the cauldron as he shoved her again and it tipped over, showering Bella in the acrid substance as she screamed. Angry, puss-filled boils appeared over every expanse of Bella's skin as she cried out in pain.
"Malfoy! Take Miss Weasley to the Hospital Wing, now!" Snape barked.
Without touching her weeping skin Draco led Bella from the classroom and down the corridor towards the hospital wing. Bella moaned in pain with every step she took and Draco could only watch her in pain, unable to do anything to help her.
"Madam Pomfrey!" He yelled as soon as the Hospital Wing doors were open.
The matron came running from her office at his voice and ushered Bella towards a bed further up the ward.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Cure for boils gone wrong." Draco answered her.
She summoned vials of potions and bottles of salve from the cabinet as she shooed Draco from the bedside. Bella yelped in pain as Madam Pomfrey examined the blisters all over her skin.
"Drink this, it'll help with the pain." The matron handed Bella a vial with green liquid within and Bella swigged it back, gagging at the taste.
Within seconds her whole body felt as though she'd just been submerged within an ice bath. The burning pain subsided and Bella felt bliss as Madam Pomfrey rubbed the burn salve all over her skin.
"You'll need to stay and let that salve settle in but you should be okay in a few hours." Madam Pomfrey advised Bella once she had finished treating her.
"Thank you." Bella smiled as Madam Pomfrey flitted around the ward.
Draco stood awkwardly at the foot of Bella's bed with a sad look on his face. Bella beckoned towards the seat beside her and he took it.
"I'm so sorry." He said sadly.
"That'll teach you to be such a know-it-all." She smirked at him.
"Are you okay?" He asked with a sheepish grin.
"I'm okay now." She smiled.
The pair shared small smile before Draco coughed awkwardly and rose from the chair.
"I should, um, I should get back to class." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder before turning on his heel and walking swiftly from the Hospital Wing.
Bella watched him go with the quirk of her eyebrow as she shook her head at his strange behaviour and made herself comfortable in the bed she would spend the rest of the day in.
As promised, Bella was allowed to leave the Hospital Wing later that night, just in time for the feast. Ron spent the feast and the hours afterwards fussing over Bella which reminded Bella of their mother.
"You're seriously going to go to that?"
Harry, Ron and Hermione were telling Bella, Emily and Freya about the invite from Sir Nick to attend his Deathday party on Halloween night.
"Merlin yes! Who alive can say they've ever been to one!" Hermione cried.
"Count me out." Bella commented.
"Me too." Emily agreed.
"And me." Freya added.
"You really won't come with us?" Ron asked.
"Sorry Ron but I'd rather be sat in the warm Great Hall eating delicious food than stuck in the freezing cold dungeons." Bella replied.
"Your loss." Hermione said.
True to their word, Harry, Ron and Hermione were absent from the Halloween feast. Like any special event, the Great Hall was decorated beautifully.
"Let's hope there's no trolls set loose this year." Emily laughed.
"Let's hope not." Seamus laughed back.
There were no trolls this year to everyone's relief. With full stomachs and feeling content the second years left the Great Hall for Gryffindor Tower but were stopped in their tracks by the unmoving crowd. Bella shoved her way to the front and stood shocked at what she saw. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood in the middle of the crowd, a large puddle of water at their feet and expressions of fear on their faces. On the wall behind them in what looked like blood read the words 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.' To theleft of the writing, something resembling a wire brush was hanging from the torch bracket on the wall. But it wasn't a wire brush, it was Mrs Norris!
"Enemies of the heir, beware? You'll be next mudbloods!" Draco yelled smugly.
He had shoved his way to the front of the gathered crowd and stopped beside Bella. She elbowed him in the stomach and he grunted in pain. Another taller frame came shoving through the crowd and dropped to their knees in the large puddle of water.
"My cat! What have you done to my cat! You've killed her! I'll have you!" Filch was now shaking a long finger in Harry's direction as he wailed.
"It's alright Argus." Came the soothing voice of Professor Dumbledore as he parted the crowd, flanked by a number of other teachers.
He detached Mrs Norris' stiff frame from the torch bracket and beckoned for Filch to follow after him.
"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, you too please."
The trio followed after him with sad looks on their faces as the crowd dispersed to their respective common rooms. Draco watched Bella walk away as she glared at him.
"I hope they'll be okay." She commented to Seamus as they walked up the staircase.
If they hadn't been expelled for stealing the flying car, they were sure to be expelled now.
