Chapter 8: A Bloody Message
Daphne Greengrass apparently had no qualms about telling Susan all about Malfoy's punishment. Within a couple of days Susan was able to tell them that Malfoy was in detention three nights a week for the rest of term, though he was still on the Slytherin quidditch team. Harry wasn't particularly bothered by that; if he had bought his way on to the team as everyone suspected then he would be easier to beat than an actually capable player, and Harry would definitely enjoy beating him. Their superior brooms were a problem, but Harry was hopeful that the Gryffindor team's skill and hard work would overcome their increased speed.
The autumn term continued to plod on and the Halloween feast was looming on the horizon. Harry had continued to catch the occasional sound of an evil voice just out of sight. Every time he would search for it, scanning the area for a source or even to see if anyone else was reacting, but still he saw nothing, it made no sense. He was beginning to think that maybe Ron was right and that it was just somebody messing with him.
The Halloween feast was considered one of the highlights of the year by most of the school and it truly was spectacular, but knowing as he did now that it was the anniversary of his parents' death Harry just couldn't bring himself to join in the revelry. Instead the evening of the 31st of October found Harry, Ron and Hermione wandering the school semi aimlessly. Harry suspected Hermione had had a quiet word with Ron as he was sure Ron wouldn't have understood his reluctance to go the feast otherwise. Either way he was grateful for their unquestioning support and the three of them strolled quietly through the castle enjoying the smaller decorations in the corridors. The paintings had all done their best to add a ghoulish twist to their scene or themselves, collections of animated carved pumpkins and other gourds prowled windowsills casting strange and unpredictable shadows and sudden flurries of bats would sweep through the halls with a shrill chattering sound. The ghosts too were out in force apparently all having agreed to spook and surprise as many people as possible. Disembodied heads would suddenly pop through the wall ahead of you or drop down through the ceiling when you least expected it; Peeves was having a field day.
They were heading to the second floor to see the statues of armour perform their choreographed battle when Harry heard the voice again. He froze.
"BLOOD… I CAN TASTE IT… THEY WILL ALL DIE"
It sounded so close. Harry grabbed at Ron and Hermione and headed towards the voice, "quick! They're going to hurt someone." Harry couldn't have asked for better friends, they immediately ran with him as he charged along the corridor despite clearly not having a clue what was going on.
He soon wished they hadn't.
They turned the corner at the end of the corridor and were met with a gruesome sight. The three of them froze staring in horror. A message was painted on the wall, in giant bloody letters, 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE'. Hanging stiffly from wall lamp next to it, was Mrs Norris, Filch's cat. Blood was still dribbling down the wall from the grisly message dripping into a pool of water beneath tinging the large puddle red. Harry had no idea what to do, he instinctively took a step forwards - to do what? Check on the cat? It wasn't moving. See if it really was blood? He could smell it, this was no Halloween joke. Ron and Hermione grabbed at his shoulder in an attempt to stop him as his school shoes splashed into the flood water. He regretted moving towards the scene instantly as he heard the clamour of footsteps and several student rounded the opposite corner. He looked up into the faces of his school mates and for the first time realised how this would look to a passerby.
As would be expected the panic and uproar soon drew the attention of teachers and Filch alike. Harry, Ron and Hermione were taken along with Dumbledore, McGonagall and for some reason unfathomable to Harry, Professor Lockhart. They told the teacher's what they could though it wasn't much. Ron and Hermione in a show of loyalty were careful not to mention Harry hearing voices but Harry had decided keeping that sort of information to themselves might prove to be dangerous. Again Harry considered his options, he looked at the three professors before him, Lockhart as far as Harry was concerned was a waste of space and he didn't trust him to be at all discreet, Professor Dumbledore would almost certainly make use of the information but Harry wasn't convinced that Dumbledore had his best interests at heart. That left Professor McGonagall, he trusted that she would listen, and he trusted that she would always look out for him, but would she be able to keep something from the headmaster, or even go against him if necessary, he wasn't sure. Perhaps he should test the waters a little.
"Professor," Harry looked at the headmaster, trembling slightly as the adrenaline left his system, "Is the DMLE going to investigate?" He watched the teachers closely to see their reactions. Lockhart flinched slightly clearly not keen on the idea, McGonagall gave a subconscious nod of approval and Dumbledore merely smiled.
"Oh I don't think so Harry my boy, they have serious crimes to deal with, we can't be wasting their time with school antics." McGonagall's nostrils flared.
"It may be worth considering headmaster," she suggested pointedly staring at the older wizard intently.
"It was a lot of blood sir, and the message was threatening, not to mention Mrs Norris. From what I've read, the DMLE has a department specifically for investigating serious threats," Hermione agreed whole heartedly with Harry.
Dumbledore held up a hand to quiet Hermione, "Fear not, we will get to the bottom of this. Mrs Norris is not dead, merely petrified, she will be fine in no time. There is no need for us to add to the students' panic by bringing in Aurors"
"I'd feel safer with Aurors around than not" Ron stated plainly Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.
Again Dumbledore hushed them with a raised palm. "As always I appreciate your input but now I ask that you would trust me to run this school safely, I have after all been doing it for a great many years." He looked at them over the top of his glasses and twinkled his eyes at them before dismissing them from the office.
When they arrived at their common room it was abuzz with gossip, everyone wanted to know what Harry, Ron and Hermione knew. Harry realised that it was imperative he stay and join in with his house, he couldn't afford to isolate himself and end up ostracised like first year. If someone started saying he was the culprit he wanted to make sure he had some people on side this time. So they stayed and joined in, Ron dramatising the moment of finding Mrs Norris perfectly adding to the atmosphere. Harry was impressed, Ron had managed to make them sound like heroes rather than the passersby they were. Somehow the threat and fear of the bloody message and hanging cat lost some of its power over Harry once the story had been told and he breathed a little easier as they finally headed to their dorms.
The whole school was talking about the Chamber of Secrets by morning, some in anxious fearful voices, others with curiosity. What Harry found most telling was how the teachers were behaving. They weren't just shrugging or laughing it off; well apart from Lockhart obviously. Saturday morning had dawned and the bloody words were still dripping on the second floor bathroom wall, the teacher's had evidently been unable to remove them. Everywhere you went there seemed to be one teacher or another who just happened to be passing by. Whereas normally you would get a sarcastic comment or an eye roll from Professor McGonagall when asking about one of the big school rumours, student who asked about the Chamber instead got reassurance of safety, which ironically concerned them even more. The teachers were all taking this seriously, and that in itself was concerning.
"It's a clear threat of violence." Harry said in frustration as they headed back from the library the next day. "Dumbledore knows it and the other teachers know it." They'd done their research, well Hermione mainly, but they knew about Salazar Slytherin's secret lair, the supposed monster, his hatred of muggleborns and perhaps more importantly that there'd been an incident years ago involving the death of a student; all of this linked to The Chamber of Secrets.
"I'm going to send a message to Amelia Bones," Harry said quietly to Ron and Hermione. "I don't know why Dumbledore's is so against it but I think she should know. She wouldn't think it was just school antics."
"It is strange," agreed Hermione, "You could see Professor McGonagall wanted to report it." She looked thoughtful, clearly trying to come up with theory that would keep her respect in the headmaster intact.
"I'm going to tell her about the things I've heard too," Harry added even more quietly. They turned and looked at him in surprise, "Someone needs to know, it could help." He explained.
"I think it's the right thing to do Harry," Hermione assured him.
They found a fairly quiet corner of the common room for themselves and set about writing a letter to Madam Bones. Hermione was reluctant to mention how Dumbledore had actively resisted reporting the even but Harry and Ron both thought it was important.
Ron was looking thoughtfully at the letter as Harry finished it off, "If I've heard of the chamber before, and there's been trouble with it in living memory then maybe there's more people we could ask about it. It sounds like it was before our parents time but I'd bet my hat that it wasn't the first McGonagall had heard about it."
"You're not suggesting we try and ask McGonagall about are you?" said Harry incredulously.
"Of course not, I'm not daft, but Hagrid's pretty good at telling us things he probably shouldn't." Ron grinned.
Hermione frowned at him, "Hagrid's our friend Ronald; we shouldn't try and get him in trouble."
He held his hands up in surrender, "I just mean we could go and visit him and ask, he doesn't have to tell us anything."
"And the ghosts!" exclaimed Harry, "They've been around here since they died, surely if something had happened like this before they'd remember."
"And the portraits!" Hermione was excited too, "They must see and hear everything that goes on in this castle."
"I wouldn't hold your breath" Ron laughed at them.
Harry and Hermione looked at him confused. "Why not? It's perfect."
Ron looked at them in disbelief, "Well the ghosts, that's obvious, I mean they're ghosts." Harry and Hermione looked at him uncomprehendingly. "Well they're not going to remember are they." Ron tried to explain. Seeing their blank looks he plowed on. "Ghosts only really remember their living years, anything that happens while they're ghosts just sort of dribbles out of their heads. I mean sure they may remember people and things for a few years but unless they see them day in and day out it just goes. You could probably ask Sir Nicholas about my brother Charlie and he wouldn't have a clue who you meant and he was here for 7 years, was head boy and didn't leave that long ago." Ron looked at them both to see if they understood, both Harry and Hermione stared at him amazed, "I had no idea you didn't know about that." Ron said sheepishly.
"How do you know so much about ghosts?" Hermione asked him a little enviously.
"I don't really" shrugged Ron, "I thought it was pretty common knowledge, maybe that's just in the wizarding world, I guess it doesn't come up in conversation very often," he mused.
"Alright," said Harry, "So what about the paintings?"
"Well they're paintings aren't they," Ron replied unhelpfully. Seeing the unimpressed look on Hermione's face he tried again. "They're not real, they're just paint and an enchantment." He struggled on trying to explain something that to him seemed obvious. "They can only really do what they've been enchanted to do. They don't have a brain or anything they can't remember things unless that's what they've been made to do. Like… like…" He looked away for inspiration, "Like the Fat Lady," he finally continued, "she remembers the password and to let us in if we know it. It takes a lot of difficult magic to do more than basic animation on a painting. Most of the ones at school just act like a person, they won't remember any conversation they had the day before, though some of the older paintings seem to have something more about them."
He didn't know about Hermione, but Harry was stunned. He didn't often notice how out of their element they were coming from a muggle background but here was Ron with all this assumed common knowledge that even Hermione didn't know with all her extra reading and studying. It was incredibly frustrating and not a little intimidating to realise how ignorant he really was.
He heard Hermione sigh, "Well I guess that won't work then." She looked dejected and Harry suspected it was as much due to realising how little she knew as it was about their plan not working.
"We can still ask Hagrid," Ron tried to cheer her up, "And Madam Bones will definitely do something." Hermione nodded though unenthusiastically.
They gave Hedwig their letter and immediately headed to Hagrid's. In an attempt to be tactful they didn't bring up the Chamber immediately but chatted with Hagrid and surreptitiously fed fang the rock cakes they were too polite to decline. Hagrid didn't seem his usual cheerful self, he seemed more rattled about the Mrs Norris incident than anyone else did. They knew Hagrid was an animal lover in general, but they also knew Hagrid made a special exception for Filch's cat and disliked her intensely. Eventually, after they had danced around the topic for long enough and after several very unsubtle looks from Ron and Hermione Harry finally plucked up the courage to broach the subject.
"Um Hagrid," he said to the giant of a man who was pouring them all another cup of tea. Hagrid looked up at him, "Have you heard of The Chamber of Secrets?" Harry dived straight in. Hagrid tensed and the teapot crashed to the table as the handle shattered in his grip.
"No." replied Hagrid shortly and stomped to the kitchen to gather a cloth for the spilt tea that was flooding across the table.
Ron and Hermione looked at him meaningfully again. "We just thought that as you'd been at Hogwarts for so long you might have heard about it before" Harry tried again.
"I said no didn't I?" He wiped violently at the table, "I go' a lot to do you should pro'ly get back to the castle." In less time than they would have thought possible they found themselves outside Hagrid's hut with the door closed behind them. Whatever Hagrid knew he was definitely not about to tell them by accident.