Thanks to those who reviewed Chapter Three, Keep it up! Also, I've created a forum for people to ask questions or comment on my story if they so choose, the link to it is on my profile page! Enjoy, and i hope to hear from my readers.

Chapter Four

Moaning Myrtle

For the next few days, all school could talk about was the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker might come back. When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like 'breathing loudly' and 'looking happy.'

The attack had also had an effect on Faykan and Hermione. Faykan had once again taken to wandering the corridors at night, disguised in his animagus form, while Hermione was reading more than she had ever done before. Nor could Harry, Faykan or Ron get much response from her when they asked what she was up to, and not until the following Wednesday did they find out. Faykan had been held back in Potions, where Snape had made him stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks and Harry had waited for him. After a hurried lunch, the two boys went upstairs to meet Ron in the library, and saw Justin Finch-Fletchley, the Hufflepuff boy from Herbology, coming toward them. Harry had just opened his mouth to say hello when Justin caught sight of them, turned abruptly, and sped off in the opposite direction.

They found Ron at the back of the library, measuring his History of Magic homework. Professor Binns had asked for a three foot long composition on 'The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards.'

"I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short," said Ron furiously, letting go of his parchment, which sprang back into a roll. "And Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's tiny."

"Where is she?" asked Harry, grabbing the tape measure and unrolling his own homework.

"Somewhere over there," said Ron, pointing along the shelves, "looking for another book. I think she's trying to read the whole library before Christmas."

Harry told Ron about Justin Finch-Fletchley running away from him.

"Dunno why you care. I thought he was a bit of an idiot," said Faykan, while Ron scribbled away, making his writing as large as possible. "All that rubbish about Lockhart being so great."

Hermione emerged from between the bookshelves. She looked irritable and at last seemed ready to talk to them.

"All the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out," she said, sitting down next to Faykan; across from Harry and Ron. "And there's a two week waiting list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books."

"Why do you want it?" said Harry.

"The same reason everyone else wants it," said Hermione, "to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."

"What's that?" said Harry quickly; just as he noticed Faykan get his traditional distant look that he always wore when he was working something out.

"That's just it. I can't remember," said Hermione, biting her lip. "And I can't find the story anywhere else…"

"Hermione, let me read your composition," said Ron desperately, checking his watch.

"No, I won't," said Hermione, suddenly severe. "You've had ten days to finish it."

"I only need another two inches, come on…"

The bell rang. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic, bickering.

History of Magic was the dullest subject on their schedule. Professor Binns, who taught it, was their only ghost teacher, and the most exciting thing that ever happened in his classes was his entering the room through the blackboard. Today was as boring as ever. Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor.

He had been speaking for half an hour when something happened that had never happened before. Hermione put up her hand. Professor Binns, glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed. "Miss… err…?"

"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione in a clear voice.

Dean Thomas, who had been sitting with his mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window, jerked out of his trance; Lavender Brown's head came up off her arms and Neville Longbottom's elbow slipped off his desk.

Professor Binns blinked.

"My subject is History of Magic," he said in his dry, wheezy voice. "I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his throat with a small noise like chalk snapping and continued, "In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcerers…"

He stuttered to a halt. Faykan's hand was now waving in the air.

"Mr. Undol?"

Everyone's eyes darted from Faykan to Professor Binns. He had never gotten a student's name right in years…

"Don't legends always have a basis in fact, Sir?"

Professor Binns was looking at him in such amazement, Harry was sure no student had ever interrupted him before, alive or dead. "Well," said Professor Binns slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose." He peered at Faykan as though he had never seen a student properly before. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale…"

But the whole class was now hanging on Professor Binns' every word. He looked dimly at them all, every face turned to his. Harry could tell he was completely thrown by such an unusual show of interest.

"Oh, very well," he said slowly. "Let me see... the Chamber of Secrets ...

"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago, the precise date is uncertain, by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."

The ghost continued to explain that at first the founders had worked together, but eventually a rift grew between Slytherin and the other three, because of Slytherin's desire to be more 'selective' about who they allowed to attend Hogwarts, namely purebloods. Eventually there was a confrontation between Slytherin and Gryffindor and Slytherin left the school.

Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise.

"Reliable historical sources tell us this much," he said. "But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing.

"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."

There was silence as he finished telling the story, but it wasn't the usual, sleepy silence that filled Professor Binns' classes. There was unease in the air as everyone continued to watch him, hoping for more. Professor Binns looked faintly annoyed.

"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course," he said. "Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."

Hermione's hand was back in the air.

"Sir, what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?"

"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of Slytherin alone can control," said Professor Binns in his dry, reedy voice.

The class exchanged nervous looks.

"I tell you, the thing does not exist," said Professor Binns, shuffling his notes. "There is no Chamber and no monster."

Several students began voice their opinions about why the chamber could not have been found, but Binns had had enough.

"That will do," he said sharply. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built as much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable fact!"

And within five minutes, the class had sunk back into its usual torpor. "I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron told the others as they fought their way through the teeming corridors at the end of the lesson to drop off their bags before dinner. "But I never knew he started all this pureblood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd have got the train straight back home..."

Hermione nodded fervently, but Harry didn't say anything. His stomach had just dropped unpleasantly, remembering where the hat had tried to place Faykan last year. He noticed that Faykan didn't say anything either, but just stared off into space.

As they were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevey went past. "Hiya, Harry!"

"Hullo, Colin," said Harry automatically.

"Harry, Harry, a boy in my class has been saying you're…" But Colin was so small he couldn't fight against the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, "See you, Harry!" and he was gone.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," said Harry, his stomach dropping another inch or so as he suddenly remembered the way Justin Finch-Fletchley had run away from him and
Faykan at lunchtime.

"People here'll believe anything," said Ron in disgust.

The crowd thinned and they were able to climb the next staircase without difficulty.

"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked Hermione.

"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be, well, human."

As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end of the very corridor where the attack had happened. They stopped and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message 'The Chamber of

Secrets has been Opened.'

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered.

They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted. "Can't hurt to have a poke around," said Faykan, and Harry dropped his bag and got to his hands and knees so that he could crawl along, searching for clues.

"Scorch marks!" he said, "Here, and here."

"Come and look at this!" said Hermione. "This is funny..."

Harry got up and crossed to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.

"It's just like the spiders I saw in the forest during my detention with Snape," Faykan commented.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" said Hermione wonderingly.

"No," said Harry, "have you, Ron? Ron?"

He looked over his shoulder. Ron was standing well back and seemed to be fighting the impulse to run.

"What's up?" said Harry.

"I. Don't. Like. Spiders," said Ron tensely.

"I never knew that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. "You've used spiders in Potions loads of times...

"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, who was carefully looking anywhere but at the window. "I just don't like the way they move..."

Hermione giggled.

"It's not funny," said Ron, fiercely. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my, my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick... You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and... "

He broke off, shuddering. Hermione was obviously still trying not to laugh. Feeling they had better get off the subject, Harry said, "Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from?"

"Someone's mopped it up."

"It was about here," said Ron, recovering himself to walk a few paces past Filch's chair and pointing. "Level with this door." He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as though he'd been burned.

"What's the matter?" said Harry.

"Can't go in there," said Ron gruffly. "That's a girls' toilet."

"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione, standing up and coming over. "That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have a look."

"I don't want to go in there," Faykan said abruptly, and Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look at him. Faykan was shifting nervously, edging slightly away from the bathroom.

"Fay," Harry said concerned, "Are you okay?"

"I really don't want to see her again, if it's alright with you." He replied, a tint of redness starting to creep onto his face.

"Oh come on, there's nothing she can do to you, stop being so scared." Hermione said, grabbing Faykan wrist. And ignoring the large 'OUT of ORDER' sign, she opened the door, dragging the protesting Faykan behind her, with Harry and Ron following. It was the gloomiest, most depressing bathroom Harry had ever set foot in. Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of chipped sinks. The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of them was dangling off its hinges.

Hermione put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall. When she reached it she said, "Hello, Myrtle, how are you?" Harry and Ron went to look, while Faykan glanced at the door and edged toward it, until Harry grabbed his arm to stop him. Moaning Myrtle was floating above the tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin.

"This is a girls' bathroom," she said, eyeing Ron, Faykan and Harry suspiciously, finally settling her eyes on Faykan with a small grin. "They're not girls."

"No," Hermione agreed. "I just wanted to show them how err… nice it is in here."

She waved vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp floor.

"Ask her if she saw anything," Harry mouthed at Hermione.

"What are you whispering?" said Myrtle, staring at him.

"Nothing," said Harry quickly. "We wanted to ask…"

"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" said Myrtle, in a voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead…"

"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you," said Hermione. "Harry only…"

"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" howled Myrtle. "My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!"

"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately," said Hermione quickly, "because a cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween."

"Did you see anyone near here that night?" said Harry.

"I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Nick upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm… that I'm…"

"Already dead," said Ron helpfully.

Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.

Harry and Ron stood with their mouths open, but Hermione shrugged wearily and said, "Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle... Come on, let's go."

Faykan was out the door quicker than lightning. Harry had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a Hermione was laying into Faykan, "So Fay, why does Myrtle terrify you so much?" she said with a suppressed giggle.

Faykan face flushed immediately and he started to try and change the subject, but Hermione persisted until Faykan finally blurted out, "She caught me in there…"

"In there doing what?" Ron said stupidly, and Faykan turned away and coughed, but Harry had a faint idea what he had been doing. "I was wandering down the corridor and I couldn't wait to find a boy's room…" Faykan muttered looking down at his shoes and Ron burst out laughing, earning a sharp poke in the ribs from Hermione.

"It's not funny Ron." Faykan said indignantly, "If you'd been out all night as an animal that had a tiny bladder you would have gone in there too."

"And, she saw you, doing your business," Hermione said slowly, and Faykan nodded. "She came right up through the toilet, scared me half to death, so I transformed and ran for it." Faykan shuddered at the memory, "Now she keeps following me around whenever she sees me, making references and innuendos…"

"I'm sorry Fay," Hermione said, putting a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off, "Can we talk about something else please." He said, and walked off back to the Great Hall.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Ron couldn't stop laughing at Faykan's misfortune throughout dinner, and the entire way back up to the common room. He was so distracted that he kept blotting his Charm's homework, and when he tried to remove the smudges with his wand, he accidentally ignited the parchment. In an effort to put out the flames, he slammed 'The Standard Book of Spells Grade 2' closed on the parchment. To Harry's surprise, Hermione followed suit.

"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggleborns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement, still trying to stop chucking. "Who do we know who thinks Muggleborns are scum?"

He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Nott…"

"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him, `You'll be next, Mudbloods!' come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him."

"Nott, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Faykan skeptically.

"Well," said Hermione cautiously, "I suppose it's possible..."

"But how would we prove it?" said Harry darkly.

"We could have Draco ask him," Faykan suggested, but Ron shot it down, saying that Nott didn't trust Draco because he was too close to them.

"There might be another way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice still further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. "Of course, it would be difficult, and dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect…"

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" said Ron irritably.

"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Nott a few questions without him realizing it's us."

"But that's impossible," Harry said as Ron laughed.

"No, it's not," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion."

"What's that?" said Ron and Harry together.

"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago…"

"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" muttered Ron.

"It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Nott would probably tell us anything."

"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me," said Ron, frowning. "What if we were stuck looking like four of the Slytherins forever?"

"It wears off after a while," said Hermione, waving her hand impatiently. "But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library."

There was only one way to get out a book from the Restricted Section: You needed a signed note of permission from a teacher.

"Hard to see why we'd want the book, really," said Ron, "if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions."

"I think," said Hermione, "that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance..."

"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that," said Ron.

"Want to bet." Faykan said with a sly grin that reminded them all of his animagus form.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

After the disastrous first lesson with the pixies, Professor Lockhart had done nothing more than read to his classes from his books. Faykan had suggested that they stop going completely, Harry and Ron agreed but Hermione wouldn't allow it. Harry was tired of being hauled to the front of the class every lesson for Lockhart's reenactments of his books, but they needed Lockhart in a good mood to trick him into giving them a note to get the potion's book. Finally the bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework, compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf, Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

The class began to leave. Harry returned to the back of the room, where Ron, Faykan and Hermione were waiting. When the rest of the class had filed out, Hermione approached Lockhart's desk with a piece of paper in her hand, the three boys behind her.

"Err… Professor Lockhart?" she stammered. "I wanted to… to get this book out of the library, just for background reading." She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly. "But the thing is that it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it. I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms."

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her, "Possibly my very favorite book. You enjoyed it?"

While Hermione stroked Lockhart's ego and got the note signed, Harry saw Faykan roll his eyes at the Professor's stupidity and leave the room in disgust. Finally Lockhart scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it back to Hermione. Harry and Ron followed her out to find Faykan sitting down the corridor waiting. As they approached, he stood and examined the note Hermione had in her hand. "See," he said to Ron, "Told you it would be easy."

It took twenty minutes for them to retrieve the book, because Madam Pince took an extra long time to studying their note, and then finding the book. Five minutes later, they were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out of order bathroom once again. Hermione had overridden Faykan's objections by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds would go, so they were guaranteed some privacy. Thankfully Moaning Myrtle was crying noisily in her stall, so they were ignoring her, and she them.

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione as they scanned the recipe. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," she murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store cupboard, we can help ourselves... Oh, look, powdered horn of a bicorn, don't know where we're going to get that, shredded skin of a boomslang. That'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whomever we want to change into..." Ron got a disgusted look on his face. Faykan perked up for a moment, "Oh yeah, Ron," Ron turned to him, and threw up his hands as Faykan punched him several times in the chest and arms as hard as he could, "Next time you tease me, you'll find spiders in your bed…" Faykan said icily. Ron grimaced and rubbed his now sore torso.

REVIEW!