A/N: Continuation of Mrs. Norris' petrification. Along with some catching up between an unlikely pair of friends. Also, Lockhart. He's just so fun to write and I hope this chapter did him justice.
Chapter 28 The Writing on the Wall
When Filch arrived at the scene, his reaction, predictably, was severe. Compounded by Harry tracking mud through half of the ground floor earlier, the sight of Harry and his friends standing right next to a stock-still Mrs. Norris sent the caretaker into a rage. He threw a fit right there in the hall before the eyes of half of Hogwarts' occupants, but before things could get too out of hand, Dumbledore stepped in and dismissed the irate caretaker along with all the congregated students. Dumbledore's arrival seemed to break up much of the commotion, and with the dismissal of the students to their dorms, he beckoned for Harry, Severus, Lily, Hermione and Ron to follow him.
"My office is nearest, Headmaster—just upstairs—please feel free," Lockhart volunteered eagerly.
"Thank you, Gilderoy," Dumbledore said graciously.
Those that remained quickly left, staff included, and Dumbledore lead the five students along with Lockhart, Snape, McGonagall and Filch towards Lockhart's office. Dumbledore held Mrs. Norris gently in his arms, having gotten plenty of practice holding Merlin, Severus' cat, in recent years. Arriving in Lockhart's dimly lit office—Lockhart quickly saw to that problem by lighting a number of additional candles, Dumbledore set Mrs. Norris down on a desk.
Candles dimly illuminated the calm features of the four professors and the distraught expression of Filch. The five students'd taken a few steps back from the table, hoping to give Dumbledore the space he needed to examine Mrs. Norris, but more importantly, to stay clear of Filch. Lockhart hovered around the periphery of the professors, occasionally making the odd remark here and there about what it might've been that caused Mrs. Norris' apparent death.
"It was definitely a curse that killed her—probably the Transmogrifian Curse—if I had to hazard a guess. I've seen it used so many times, so unlucky I wasn't there…I know the very counter curse that would've saved her," Lockhart said pityingly.
Snape and McGonagall shot Lockhart simultaneous, withering looks. Dumbledore said nothing as he continued to examine Mrs. Norris still form, though Lockhart continued to ramble about his exploits in Africa and all the numerous murders he prevented by his timely intervention over there. Dumbledore continued examining Mrs. Norris for a while longer before finally straightening up and turning to Filch.
"She's not dead, Argus," he said softly, much to the surprise of everyone else in the room.
Lockhart fell deathly silent all of a sudden, his ravings about his curse breaking abilities having gone cold at the Headmaster's diagnosis.
"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all stiff and frozen?"
"She has been petrified," said Dumbledore. "But as for how…I cannot say." He shook his head in mildly bitter disappointment.
"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, waggling an accusing finger in Harry's direction.
"No second year could have done this," Dumbledore said firmly. "Least of all, a ward of my own. It would take extraordinarily advanced dark magic to pull off such a—"
"—Then who else could it be?!" Filch spluttered despairingly. "Weasley? Or perhaps Granger? Troublemaking Gryffindors…the lot of them!"
"Argus, do not disparage my house, my students had nothing to do with this, I am sure of it! There has to be a reasonable explanation for all of this!" McGonagall said angrily.
"I've never touched Mrs. Norris," Harry said defensively. "Not once, Mr. Filch. I—it wasn't any of us."
"Rubbish!" Filch snarled, his misery giving way to anger remarkably quickly.
"If I may, Headmaster," said Snape from the shadows, and Harry's dread quickly doubled.
Snape didn't like him all that much, and though Snape was fond of his younger self, and Lily of course…Harry didn't think their presence would spare him from an unfavorable judgement from the Potions Professor.
"Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling his lip as if he doubted himself. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here…why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"
"I was, sir," Severus piped up, sounding respectful yet resolute. "I—left early, because I was going to meet the Headmaster, I met Lily 'n the rest after I left."
"Be that as it may…none of these four were present at the feast, were they?"
"No sir," Severus muttered quietly.
Snape shot his younger self a harsh look then turned his attention to Harry, Lily, Hermione and Ron. "And you four, none of you showed up to the feast, did you?"
Harry opened his mouth to retort but Lily raised her hand and stopped him. Harry reluctantly pursed his lips shut as Lily turned around to face Snape calmly. "We were at Nearly Headless Nick's death day party, sir. Harry and I asked Professor Dumbledore about it earlier in the week and he said it was all right for us to attend," she explained rationally.
Snape searched Lily's face for any sign of deception, finding none, he turned to Dumbledore who nodded.
"Then, are you able to explain why you were wandering along the second floor corridor after said Death Day party? Why didn't you and your friends proceed straight to the Great Hall for the feast?"
"We weren't hungry," Ron piped up, just as his empty stomach decided to make its lack of sustenance known.
Snape's brow arched up sinisterly. "I suggest, headmaster, that these four aren't being entirely truthful. It might be a good idea if…certain incentive is used to coax the truth from them so we can get to the bottom of this. Perhaps certain penalties need to be applied to ascertain the truth, sir," he said to Dumbledore.
"Thank you for your input, Severus," Dumbledore replied. "It shall be taken into consideration…but you should know better than most that I believe in innocence until proven guilty."
Filch looked furious though Snape seemed mildly displeased by the verdict. Snape glared at Harry, who quickly turned away and looked towards his friends; but Filch wasn't able to hold his tongue.
"My cat has been petrified!" shrieked the caretaker. "I want to see some punishment!"
"Rest assured, Argus, we will be able to cure her," said Dumbledore. "Professor Sprout has recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."
"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. Both Severuses shot him a couple of nasty glares. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake restorative draught in my sleep. It'd be easy as pie—"
"—Excuse me," Snape said icily. "But I believe I am the Potions Master of this school."
There was a very awkward pause.
"Very well…you may go, children. Return to your dormitories at once and do not dawdle," Dumbledore said to the five second years.
Harry, Severus, Ron and Hermione left the room quickly, though Lily lingered a little longer than the rest. She opened her mouth as if to say something, Dumbledore's eyes on her intently, but she changed her mind and quickly left after her friends. For a brief moment, she was tempted to tell Dumbledore about Harry hearing that voice again, it was the second time now and she was a bit worried…but it wasn't her secret to tell, it'd be up to Harry if he wanted to.
She caught up to the four of them as they were just exiting the corridor.
"D'you think I should've told them about the voice I heard?" Harry asked.
"No," Ron said quickly. "Even in the magical world, hearing voices in your head is never a good thing, Harry."
Harry sighed wearily and let his gaze drop to the floor. Lily caught up with them then and hugged Harry tightly, he tensed a little bit but some of his tension seemed to abate soon after. "I just wish I knew what it was…I mean…it can't be Peeves, right?"
"Truthfully, I don't think it is, Harry," said Hermione, her lips pursed in a frown.
"It might've made sense the first time…but now that Mrs. Norris has turned up petrified…I doubt this is one of Peeves' pranks," Lily added, agreeing with Hermione's assessment.
"If it were Peeves, Dumbledore could banish him from the castle, y'know," Severus chimed in. "And honestly…I don't know what it is, Harry, but we can still keep looking."
Harry nodded in agreement, but then his thoughts travelled to the strange writing on the wall and the cryptic message left behind. "But what's the deal with that message…The Chamber Has Been Opened…like, what's that supposed to mean?"
"You know, it sort of rings a bell," said Ron. "I think someone told me about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once…it might've been Bill, come to think of it."
Harry nodded noncommittally.
A clock chimed somewhere in the distance.
"Midnight," said Harry. "We'd better get back. Don't want to be caught out after curfew."
Lily and Severus nodded, and after exchanging their goodbyes, the two left to return to Ravenclaw tower, while Harry, Hermione and Ron headed in another direction back to Gryffindor tower.
In the days following Mrs. Norris' petrification, the only gossip that permeated the castle walls seemingly was the attack on Filch's cat. Filch kept up his patrols along that corridor, it was almost as if the man never slept and was on the lookout for his cat's attacker. Severus, fearing for Merlin's safety, confined his cat to Ravenclaw tower, he chatted with Daphne about it and found out that her cat, Diana, was staying with Hagrid out on the grounds. The cryptic message left on the upstairs hall remained intact, both magical and muggle means of cleaning failing when attempting to wipe away the ominous lettering. A great many students who gained detention that week were tasked with wiping away the letters, but like with Filch, all failed in their attempts. All in all, it was a very stressful week for Harry, Lily, Severus, Ron and Hermione, the five friends often on the receiving end of wary or suspicious looks most places they went. They received support from Anthony and Mandy, though, who stuck by them and were more than willing and able to oppose those that thought them suspicious.
Aside from Severus and Daphne, mutual cat lovers who feared for their pets' safety, Ginny was similarly distraught over the attack on Mrs. Norris. For days in the aftermath of Mrs. Norris' petrification, she seemed to wander the castle in a daze, thankfully, Percy was there to help her. Ron told Ginny that Mrs. Norris' petrification wasn't any real loss, and that feeling bad about her loss was pointless and useless, that only served to make Ginny even more upset. Another knock-on effect of the attack was the cancellation of Snape's supervised brewing sessions. He didn't offer up any explanation for it, but when Severus and Lily approached Albus and asked him at one of their weekend meetings, the Headmaster merely said it wasn't his place to say, further perplexing them.
Speaking of the Headmaster, Harry elected to remain mum on the voices he'd heard, though he soon started visiting the library more frequently to find out what that sinister voice was. Alas, he didn't make much progress on it, though he was brought up to date by his friends on the Chamber of Secrets.
About a week after Mrs. Norris' petrification, the entire gang minus Anthony, who was sitting in on Martha Jorkins' Quidditch lecture, were in the library. A few of them managed to snag a copy of Hogwarts, A History and were busy regaling the others about the legendary chamber of secrets. One of the lucky few was Lily, who found a tattered, old, but annotated copy of the book and brought it back to the table where Harry, Severus, Ron, Mandy and Hermione were sat.
"Here we are," Lily said proudly, setting the heavy, but fraying book down on the table.
"You found one? Where?" Hermione asked curiously, she peered over Ron's shoulder to catch a glimpse of Lily's Hogwarts, A History on the table.
"It was a couple stacks away from the rest of 'em, I suspect someone just put it back in the wrong place," Lily replied. "Anyhow, I've got a copy now, so please gather 'round children and I'll tell you all we need to know about the—" her eyes twinkling with undisguised mirth "—Chamber of Secrets…woo-oo-ooo!"
"Shhh!" A hiss from Madam Pince quickly cancelled Lily's attempt at a joke.
All of the group minus Ron, who was still hard at work on his History of Magic essay, gathered around Lily to listen to her speak.
"Are we all settled, children?" Lily asked patronizingly, her voice a sound replication of a preschool teacher's lilt.
Severus and Mandy gave a pair of derisive snorts. "Get on with it," the former muttered.
Harry and Hermione's responses were settled with a roll of their eyes.
With that, Lily began to read.
"Legend has it, that the Chamber of Secrets was built by Salazar Slytherin himself and is located deep within the bowels of the castle," Lily recited, the timbre of her speech dropping half an octave, perhaps. "Supposedly, Salazar Slytherin constructed the chamber as Hogwarts was being built, and that within its walls resided an ancient monster whose purpose was to purge the school of those judged unworthy to attend Hogwarts…ooooh—that sounds a bit scary, doesn't it?"
"Come on Lily, don't be a nuisance," Severus snapped.
"Finish the passage, please," Hermione insisted, her eyes wide and thirsty for more knowledge.
Lily grinned at her fellow muggleborn and continued to read. Her eyes pored over the page for a bit longer before she slammed the book shut all of a sudden, startling them. "That's about it really, just some legend about a chamber that Slytherin built some time ago. Nothing more than that," she said quickly, though Severus noticed a hollow look on her face.
"Is that really all the book has to say?" Hermione asked skeptically, she didn't sound as though she believed Lily all that much.
"Yes," Lily grit out, her glare daring Hermione to disagree.
"Lily…" Harry began hesitantly. "Are you feeling—"
"—I'm fine," she bit out curtly, more curtly than she intended.
"Yeah, clearly you are," Severus retorted sarcastically.
Lily threw Severus a withering glare as if she were saying: 'are you serious?'
"It doesn't matter, in any case, that's all Hogwarts, A History has to say about the Chamber of Secrets," Lily said sharply.
Her pointed glare only garnered a roll of Severus' eyes and sighs from the rest of the group. Over the past week, they'd gotten more and more adjusted to Lily's…temperamental moments, and today was hardly any different from much of her recent behavior. The last week had been somewhat tough on her, tougher than it was on the four others who'd come across Mrs. Norris' frozen body. Being ostracized and looked down upon by her peers…brought back a slew of unpleasant memories from her childhood, especially her time in Primary school, where she, like Severus, were heavily ostracized by their peers.
Before long, they were packing up all their books and heading off to their next lessons. For the Gryffindors, that was History of Magic with Professor Binns; and as for the three Ravenclaws, they had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, they'd be meeting up with Anthony outside the class. When Severus, Lily and Mandy entered, they noticed that Anthony hadn't yet approached them and seemed to be darting them wary looks from the other side of the room. He didn't sit down in his usual seat by the three of them, instead sitting next to Carmichael. As a result of Anthony's absence, Severus was left without a seat-partner. That is until Tracey came into the class and plopped herself down into the empty seat next to Severus.
"Hello Severus," Tracey greeted politely. "Fancy seeing you sitting by yourself today." She slid into the seat beside him and plopped her books down on the table.
"Tracey—aren't you—your house…surely they won't like it if you sit here," Severus muttered warily.
"I don't care anymore," she said flippantly. "And with Goldstein not sitting here for whatever reason…I want to sit with one of my good friends," she finished with a tight smile.
Severus peered past Tracey to the other side of the classroom, only to see that Daphne was sat next to Carolyn Thornwood, another Slytherin, instead of Tracey who usually sat next to her.
"So, Daphne's ditched you for Thornwood, huh?" Severus asked jokingly.
Tracey scowled and shot Severus a harsh look. "Don't be stupid, I only wanted to sit next to someone else for a—
The door to the classroom swung open and Tracey cut herself off mid-sentence as Professor McGonagall strode in. Any chatter was promptly stifled as the Professor took her place at the head of the class. She waved her wand at the chalkboard to her side, levitating a piece of chalk to the board which immediately started to write of its own accord.
"Today, we shall be learning how to transfigure beetles, into buttons," said McGonagall crisply.
The class all nodded in unison and retrieved their wands from their robe pockets only for McGonagall to stop them. "But first, you will all review pages two-hundred-and-nineteen through two-hundred-and-twenty-seven in your Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration text books— make sure to take notes, after which we shall then begin practicing the spell. Am I clear?"
"Yes Professor," the class chorused, or replying something to that effect.
McGonagall's eyes pored over the sea of students, satisfied with what she saw, she transformed into a cat and leaped up onto her desk. Seeing McGonagall in her animagus state was nothing knew to the students, so without need for prompting they brought out their textbooks and started reading and note-taking. While Lily and Mandy managed to make good progress on their reading, Severus' mind continued to wander away from the lesson and towards his friend Anthony who was sat on the other side of the class.
"Psst—Severus, something wrong?" Tracey's quiet whisper snapped Severus from his musings, who blinked owlishly and shook his head.
"Wha—no, no, everything's all right. Nothing important."
Tracey raised a brow but didn't say anything and returned to her reading. Her lips moved incessantly, but no sounds came out—she was clearly mouthing the words of her textbook as she read. Severus found that habit of her's amusing, and since she usually sat a few tables over from him, he hadn't yet observed her up close.
"Eyes on the page, Prince," Tracey muttered under her breath, having caught Severus staring at her in amusement.
"I could say the same to you, Davis," Severus muttered back.
Tracey's lips curled upwards into a wry smile before shaking her head and looking back towards the page. After half an hour of reading and note-taking, McGonagall called time on their studies and instructed her students to put away their textbooks, not their notes, and to take out their wands. What followed were several—mostly unsuccessful attempts to transfigure beetles into buttons. Though the class didn't fare so well, it certainly wasn't from lack of trying as the beetles sprouted all sorts of changes and half-transfigurations; all unsuccessful results, of course.
"This is so frustrating," Tracey huffed tiredly.
Severus ignored her and let his gaze drift to the other side of the class. Daphne appeared to be struggling as well, along with most of the other Slytherins on their half of the class. Malfoy, however, looked as smug as ever. He held up a small, black button to Professor McGonagall as she walked past, who rewarded the smug Slytherin with a nod and five points.
"Malfoy seems to have got it," Severus muttered, drawing a look of surprise from Tracey.
"Really? Well, that's just great, ain't it? He's already been spouting so much garbage all week, now that he's managed this, it'll only get even worse," Tracey scowled.
Severus was intrigued by this so he set his wand down and turned to Tracey. "What do you mean?"
Tracey's features settled into a grim look. "Malfoy's been obnoxious all week long. Ever since Mrs. Norris' petrification, really, he's been speculating on who's gonna be petrified next, all behind closed doors of course, but stuff gets around pretty easily. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts up a betting pool by the end of the week."
"Cripes," Severus muttered. "And here I was thinking that he'd matured some."
"Malfoy and maturity? What ever do you mean?" Tracey replied sardonically.
Severus could only snort in response.
They pressed on with their work, with Severus and Tracey eventually managing to perform a full beetle to button transfiguration before the end of their lesson. Having satisfied McGonagall, she transfigured the buttons back to beetles and then tasked them with writing about how they'd fared. A short while later, their lesson wrapped up and they exited the classroom. Severus packed up his things and exited quickly, as he waited outside the classroom, he moved to the side to allow his fellow Ravenclaws and the Slytherins passage into the hall. Lily and Mandy flashed him a couple of wan smiles, but Anthony hardly gave Severus so much as a glance as he followed Michael, Gareth and Terry down the hall.
As Lily and Mandy made their way towards Severus, someone came up behind him and brushed shoulders with him, a soft hand slipping by his and placing something in his pocket. He whirled around to see who it was, only to see a retreating head of blonde hair belonging to one, Daphne Greengrass. Severus squinted at her retreating form, but before he could say anything Lily and Mandy had come up to him.
"What was that all about?" Lily asked quizzically.
"Did Greengrass want something with you?" Mandy added with considerable skepticism.
Severus felt the little, slip of paper in his pocket and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing, I think," he said quietly.
"Anyways, how did you two manage?" He was careful to keep his eagerness to shift conversation away from Daphne out of his tone.
"Oh, it went all right. I managed it a few minutes after you did, Sev," Lily replied, smiling. Transfiguration was one of Lily's weakest subjects, so she was pretty pleased that she'd almost managed to beat Severus this time around.
"It was…pretty easy, I'll have you know—I hardly had any difficulty at all," Mandy bragged, her impression of Lockhart drawing chortles from Lily, and a small smirk from Severus.
As the two girls conversed, Severus briefly turned away from them and fished for the slip of paper in his robe pocket. Finding it, he brought it out and unfolded it.
Severus,
Meet me by the statue of Gregory the Smarmy on the fifth floor corridor after lunch—about one-thirty should be fine.
Daphne.
As Severus turned back around, he saw that Lily and Mandy were both looking at him speculatively. The latter wearing an inquisitive look, but his best friend's eyes were gleaming with intrigue as her gaze bore holes into the pocket where Daphne's note lied.
"What did Daphne say?" Lily asked curiously, her eyes still on Severus' pocket and not on his.
"Nothing important," Severus said dismissively. "C'mon, it's almost lunch time, we should get going."
Sensing his unease, Lily and Mandy nodded in agreement and the three of them followed their classmates towards the Great Hall. Lunch passed by in a blur, with Mandy and Lily giving Severus skeptical glances throughout the meal. Neither commented on Severus' coming meeting with Daphne, nor did they attempt to pry much after any potential avenues of conversation were swiftly shut down by Severus. Come the end of lunch, Lily and Mandy told Severus they'd be in the common room studying, and that he should come by once his meeting with Daphne was finished. Spluttering, Severus asked how they both knew his meeting with Daphne was immediately after lunch; however his question was only answered with chortles from Lily and giggles from Mandy. What Severus didn't know was that both of them had seen him darting furtive glances past their table over to where the Slytherins were sat—specifically, where a blonde-haired second-year Slytherin sat. Lily thought he was being quite obvious, but decided against teasing Severus other than letting slip that she knew of when his meeting with Daphne would be. With the cat out of the bag, Severus informed the girls that he'd meet them back at Ravenclaw Tower later and set off to go find Daphne on the fifth floor.
He needn't have look far, for Daphne managed to find him when he was only halfway to the statue of Gregory the Smarmy.
"Severus."
Daphne's voice resonated through the corridor, reaching Severus' ears. He spun around on the spot only to see daphne at the end of the corridor walking towards him quickly. Daphne's wary green eyes darted up and down the corridor; seeking out every nook and cranny, every hidden alcove, every statue as if someone or something might jump out and surprise them. Clutched close to her chest were a few of her books, her lower lip bitten and chapped in apparent apprehensiveness.
"Daphne," Severus replied evenly. "Why'd you want to meet?"
"To talk," she said simply. She peered over Severus' shoulder, then looked back into his eyes. "Just the two of us."
Severus made an exaggerated showing of glancing over Daphne's shoulder. Obviously there was no one there. "Well, we appear to be alone," he said snarkily. "So, let's talk?"
"Yeah. Let's," Daphne agreed. She gave a broad smile and Severus found himself smiling back.
The two set off down the fifth floor corridor side-by-side.
"So, how's everything been?" Daphne ventured cautiously as she and Severus started their walk 'n talk.
"You mean…in general? Or just this past week since the incident…"
"Bit of both, to be honest." Her smile broadened, hoping he'd pick up on her earnestness and honesty.
Severus gave a bit of a sigh, one that caused Daphne's brows to furrow in concern.
"I just missed you, you know, when I dropped Merlin off with Hagrid…if I'd have known, I'd have come by half an hour later and we could've chatted," Severus rambled. "Erm—I assume Dianna's doing well there?"
"She's just lovely," Daphne said, emerald stars twinkling in her eyes. "Hagrid's lovely too—he's such a great help."
"I'm glad to hear it," Severus said honestly.
Daphne smiled back and the two continued their walk.
"So—erm—how's term been?"
"Oh, you know…more or less the same—I'm no longer brewing on weekends with Tracey and Lily, though, Professor Snape cancelled the sessions so that's that," said Severus.
Daphne nodded in understanding, she'd heard as much from Tracey. Ever since Mrs. Norris' petrification, Snape had cancelled her weekly brewing sessions with Severus and Lily.
"Speaking of Professor Snape…how closely related are you?" she asked interestedly, her pale eyes gleaming with the prospect of gossip.
Severus' pallid skin seemed to pale a little bit more. His eyes betrayed a flicker of concern, but just as she saw it, it was gone. "I'm a distant cousin of his," said Severus, reciting his once often-told cover story.
"Close cousins?" Daphne pressed, smelling faint whiffs of something juicy. "You do look…remarkably alike, I must say."
"We are—'cus as I said, we're somewhat related," Severus muttered. "I'd rather not talk about it," he bit out, throwing Daphne a warning glare.
Daphne backed off and raised her hands up in surrender. "Sorry."
"But what about you?" said Severus, asking a question of his own.
"What about me?" Daphne's little smirk feigned ignorance.
Severus' look of earnestness morphed to a glare. "You know what I mean," he muttered in reply.
Daphne chuckled heartily, seemingly not affected by Severus' withering stare in the least. "Other than having to put up with Draco's antics…I really can't say it's been all that interesting, or eventful for that matter."
"You actually listen to him?" Severus replied, sarcasm lacing his tone copiously.
"Not by choice," Daphne sniffed. "But when Draco wants an ear to listen…he gets one. He's—well, his father I should say—" Severus chuckled at that, "—is very powerful. I don't want to ostracize myself like Tracey has done, which I'd run the risk of if I didn't listen to his speeches. He's been talking a lot about this past week, speaking about the heir of Slytherin and how he'd like to help them purge the school of Muggleborns and the like."
"How come Tracey doesn't know about it?"
Daphne stopped walking and Severus did too. She turned to face him, her eyes sharp and fierce. "Tracey doesn't give a damn, and since she's got Professor Snape wrapped around her little finger, she knows she's mostly untouchable barring her doing something particularly brazen."
"Slytherin to a tee, then," Severus surmised, to which Daphne agreed with a hearty chuckle.
"Precisely," she smiled. "The sorting hat tends to only send purebloods our way…so, Tracey really must've embodied Salazar's qualities more than most for her to be sorted here."
Severus' eyes bulged wide, but he successfully choked down the gasp he nearly let loose. "You…she told you?"
Daphne gave Severus a wan smile. "Not exactly," she said coyly. "I'm pretty sure I found out in a similar way to how you and Lily, did."
Recalling Tracey's little slip during their first year, Severus snorted in amusement. "I think I get what you mean."
"Well, you should," Daphne replied snarkily. "You're a Ravenclaw after all…aren't you supposed to be smart?"
"Piss off."
Daphne's snark morphed to amusement as she released a hearty chuckle. "You couldn't make me even if you wanted to!"
Though Severus fought desperately to repress his smile, he couldn't resist cracking a small grin at his friend, or acquaintance, as Daphne preferred to be called. The two continued their walk down the corridor nearly hand-in-hand.
Meanwhile on the other side of the castle, Harry was talking animatedly with Ron and Hermione, speculation running wildly between the three friends about who the heir of Slytherin might be. After hearing more about the Chamber of Secrets from Professor Binns in their History of Magic Class, numerous theories, ideas and bits of inspiration filled their heads on who the heir of Slytherin, the only person who could open the Chamber, might be. Ron and Hermione seemed to think it was Malfoy, and Harry was tempted to agree with them, but he intended to run it by Severus and Lily too to get their take on things and to find out if they had any ideas about who the heir of Slytherin might be. Then again, Harry, Ron and Hermione couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with Lily since she hadn't told them about it when she was reading from the book. Harry knew that Lily was trying to hide this from them, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. Either way, he wasn't thinking all too fondly of his good friend, Lily at the moment.
A/N2: Up next, Hagrid makes a reappearance and Harry's first Quidditch match of the year against Slytherin. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!