After a large stick was found and poked on the one knot at the base of the tree, the tree stilled as if paralysed. George and Fred gave each other an accomplished smile before they quickly moved underneath the tree where a door became accessible. They opened it, the door grating against its rusty hinges.
They entered into a corridor dark as the night outside, and promptly cast Lumos to light their way. They began to follow the corridor towards their destination, hoping it was the Shrieking Shack.
It took an hour to walk down the corridor lit by the spell at their wands. The twins talked in the echoing silence, but soon they lost their voices as their nerves took over them. Harry felt the anticipation begin to build in his chest and work its way down into his stomach.
Due to it being nighttime, the end of the corridor continued to be dark until they finally got to the end where small slivers of moonlight peeked through the cracks of a trapdoor. George was the first to volunteer, and he climbed up the ladder bolted onto the wall below the trapdoor. Harry watched with bated breath.
After a hard shove, the trapdoor gave in and George grunted as it flew open. George quickly scrambled through the opening, followed by Fred and then Harry. The first thing Harry noticed when he entered the Shrieking Shack was the dust. He coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, causing swirls of dust to dance in the moonlight. They all looked around the room. The dilapidated shack took Harry aback for a moment. He wasn't expecting the utter state of it, when he probably should have been considering the haunted title it possessed..
"Well this is… something," Fred said, picking up a piece of paper strewn on the floor. He turned it over and discovered it to be blank.
Harry stepped across the room, the floor boards creaking beneath his weight. He approached one of the boarded up windows and peaked through the slits, finding himself staring at the twinkling lights of Hogsmeade.
"With a bit of cleaning magic, this place wouldn't take long to get sorted," Fred commented, nudging his toe against the broken wooden chair on the floor.
"Does it look like I know cleaning magic, Fred?" Harry rolled his eyes and continued looking around the room, not knowing where to even begin.
"I'm sure if you send Mum a letter she can give you plenty of advice," George smirked.
Harry just rolled his eyes again and tried to figure out what he was going to do with the room. It was not fit for daily meetings with Draco; either he needed to find a new place pronto, or spend time cleaning it up before showing it to him. He didn't want to delay meeting with Draco any longer. He yearned to be able to talk freely with his friend again, especially with the increasingly distant way that Draco had been behaving.
"Guess I've got my work cut out for me," Harry sighed.
They examined the building more and found another room in the shack with a mouldy, caved-in mattress on a broken metal frame of a bed. Harry wondered who could have possibly stayed here before, but finds he doesn't really want to know what the situation of the person was and with a shiver—if they died here.
Harry looked down to his watch and found that time had gone by much faster than he thought. He alerted George and Fred to this and hurriedly they exited the shack, walking as fast as they could back to the castle.
Fred, who was holding the map, led them back to their dorms. With their hurried pace they managed to arrive back at quarter-to-two and went their separate ways to their rooms. Harry shoved his invisibility cloak back in his trunk and collapsed on his bed, hoping that Ron will just let him sleep-in tomorrow and not force him to go to breakfast. He knows it is doubtful.
Harry awakened in the morning with Ron shaking his shoulder. Harry groaned and swatted away his hand, rolling over and pulling the covers over his head.
"Harry, come on!" Ron whined, shaking him further.
"Go away!" Harry grumbled, burrowing further into his blankets.
Eventually Ron stopped shaking him when Harry wouldn't rise from his sleep and Harry drifted back off again. When Harry awoke next Hermione had chucked a book at him.
"Wha—?!" Harry exclaimed, shooting up, rubbing his back where the book had hit him.
"Get up, Harry. It's nearly lunchtime and you have last night to tell us about," Hermione said, picking up her book where it had landed on the floor.
Harry glared at her. She was seriously giving off Mrs Weasley vibes, with her hands on her hips and her lips pursed.
Harry stretched and then got himself out of bed, dragging himself to the bathroom. By the time he came out, Hermione had left Harry to get dressed.
Harry, now that he was awake, had to decide what he was to do with the Shrieking Shack. Was he too clean, or was he going to find a new place? His brain told him to find a new place, that it was going to take too long and be too hard to clean up the shack to make it somewhat livable, however, his gut told him that he would find it difficult to find another place in such a short amount of time.
Harry made his way down the stairs and he found Ron and Hermione in the common room. Harry smiled and greeted them, now feeling ready for the day even if he still felt a bit lethargic. They started their way to the Great Hall for lunch and Harry began recounting his night.
"Oh Harry, you have to take me there. I've been wanting to try out some cleaning spells!" Hermione said eagerly, Ron gave her an exasperated look.
"I don't know if it's a good idea that we all go there together, it's risky enough that I went with the twins," Harry said and Hermiones excitement faded.
"But we have your cloak, don't we Harry? We can all go under it together; surely we still fit underneath it?" Ron counteracted, and Harry had to admit that he had a point.
"I'll think about it, I don't want all of us to get in trouble in case I get caught."
Ron shrugged and gave in. Hermione regained her eagerness and began talking away about cleaning spells, which Harry quickly zoned out of.
Harry stood back in the Shrieking Shack two days later. He knew it was risky coming here on a school night, but he had no other choice. The Halloween Feast was coming up and the castle was bustling with activity. He had to do this before the feast, or he would have to wait even longer before he could tell Draco.
Harry had actually borrowed a book of cleaning charms from Hermione and clumsily began casting them. Eventually he got the hang of Tergeo and was able to clean up most of the dust and any suspicious liquids that ran rampant around the shack. A couple of spots were harder to clean than others and Harry felt his magic rapidly begin to drain.
After an hour of work and multiple spots of what he suspected to be blood were cleaned, Harry collapsed into the wooden chair that he had repaired and wiped the sweat away on his brow. This was harder work than he had anticipated.
Harry sighed and got up. He had to get back to work, he didn't have all night after all.
After another hour of Scourgify and Tergeo, Harry was primarily done with the main room of the shack. Any stubborn spots that wouldn't lift with his spells, he left for another time. He looked around the room, impressed with the difference his cleaning had already made to the building and was suddenly feeling an excitement for the upcoming future.
He found his cloak in a corner and quickly left the shack, midnight looming around the corner and a long walk ahead of him back to the castle. Harry hurried down the passage and back to the castle in record timing, his breath heavy, but he persevered. He managed to dodge a prowling Filch on the way back to Gryffindor Tower and safely made it back to his dorm without being caught.
When Harry awoke in the morning to Ron shaking his shoulder he wanted to flip him off, but knew that Ron was just doing what he had asked him to do and begrudgingly got out of bed. Harry rushed around getting ready and marched off to his first class with Ron and Hermione. Ron had let him sleep in slightly so he had missed breakfast, however Ron had saved him an apple which he happily munched on as they headed to class.
"So how much work did you get done?" Hermione asked, closing the book she was flipping through as they walked.
"Quite a bit. Still got that other room to do and other stubborn spots that wouldn't budge, but other than that, it's actually going a lot quicker than I originally thought," Harry explained, biting back into his apple.
"That's good, I wish you would've let us go, I bet I would've gotten those tough spots out," Hermione sighed, getting a dreamy look about her. Harry shook his head and chuckled whilst Ron scrunched his nose up at her.
The second years walked into their first class of the day: Potions with Slytherin. Harry was excited to see Draco, whom he hadn't been able to see at breakfast. He hoped he looked better than the last that he had seen him, though he found himself thinking it to be unlikely.
Harry looked around the classroom and found that he couldn't see Draco yet, which was unusual for Draco was always on time for class.
"Nice of you three to be on time for my class. Hurry up and find a desk!" Snape snapped and they hurried to their seats. Usually on practical days, Ron and Harry shared a cauldron, however Hermione had taken his spot.
"Sorry Harry, I asked if she could join me this time. I have no idea what I'm doing," Ron said apologetically.
"Nah, it's alright, I'll just work with Neville this time." Harry patted him on the shoulder and made way to Neville, but found that Neville wasn't present. He went to the desk feeling a bit lost and, for the first time in Potions, set up for just himself.
"Mr Malfoy, where is your partner?" Snape asked, catching Harry's attention. Whilst Harry had been distracted setting up, Draco must have walked into the room, and was now setting up a cauldron by himself as well.
"Blaise is sick, sir," Draco said, his voice quiet. Harry saw that those bags under his eyes seemed even worse than the day before. Something was seriously wrong with Draco. Why was no one doing anything about it? Harry felt anger flare within him, but he quashed it before it could get out of control. There wasn't time to be angry about things that he couldn't fix.
"Set up with Mr Potter, no point in the both of you working alone," Snape said, almost reluctantly.
Draco looked up and gave Harry a surprised look, but quickly his face washed over with neutrality. He packed up his things and moved to Harry's workstation.
They remained silent, giving each other nods to acknowledge each other, then when the classroom began to work away at their potions, Harry could finally begin talking with Draco without worrying about being overheard.
"How have you been?" Harry murmured, as he cut the nettle roots they were using today.
"Tired, but okay," Draco sighed, stirring the potion whilst looking at his textbook for directions.
"You look like shit, Draco, are you sure you're okay?" Harry asked, pausing to look at Draco.
"I'm fine, Harry, just not getting a lot of sleep that is all," Draco replied, giving Harry a look that said to not push. So, Harry dropped the subject and continued preparing the ingredients for the potion.
Harry pondered on whether or not he should use this opportunity to tell Draco that he had found a place where they could meet up from now on, but thought better of it. He wanted to keep it a surprise for when the shack was ready.
Harry was about to ask Draco something, when Hermione passed by their workstation and placed something on their table. Harry gave her a perplexed look and looked down to what she had deposited and found a galleon there.
"Hermione, you brilliant human being," Harry beamed, quickly taking the galleon. Draco gave him a confused look.
"Here Draco, this is the idea that Hermione and I came up with. The digits will change to the date and time that I want us to meet. It'll grow hot when I change the numbers on it. I… still have to find a place, but I think I'm getting close to finding one."
Harry placed the galleon in Draco's hand and Draco clutched it tightly, giving Harry an almost watery smile.
"Soon, then? We can start meeting again?" Draco said.
Harry nodded, giving Draco a hopeful smile. "Very soon."
Snape began his looming rounds around the workstations and they both got back to work, smiles lifting both of their lips as they did. Snape peered down at Draco's potion, the colour was meant to be a light shade of blue, Harry peeked over the potion and found that it was a bit darker than the textbook description but hopefully enough to pass Snapes scrutinising gaze.
"You forgot a quarter clockwise stir, Mr Malfoy, but other than that good job," Snape said, which zapped surprise through Harry—Snape rarely gave out compliments. His gaze passed over Harry, but he didn't say anything. However, Harry noted the lack of venom in his eyes and Harry wondered where this sudden good mood of Snape's had appeared.
All they had to do now was let their potion brew and then be put on stasis to continue in the next lesson. Harry, for the first time in Potions, was reluctant for the lesson to end. He wanted to keep talking to Draco but knew that it would look weird if he stayed back to do so..
Draco gave Harry a small smile goodbye and Harry returned it, joining Ron and Hermione who were lagging to allow him some space with Draco to say his goodbyes.
"Hermione, did you know I love you?" Harry laughed, squeezing Hermione into a side hug.
"You are lucky I thought to bring it to class today, I spent hours finishing it up last night. Oh and here's yours," she said, handing Harry his galleon. "There's a Protean charm on it which took far too long for me to cast, but hopefully it's strong enough to hold up for a while. I might have to recast it later though… I think I need more practice with it."
"Hermione, did you say a Protean charm? That's like NEWTs level!" Ron gaped at her, shock on his face.
"Never underestimate me, Ronald," Hermione said, a proud smirk forming on her lips.
"Hey! I mastered the use of Scourgify last night, where's my praise?" Harry frowned playfully and Ron just rolled his eyes at him.
The end of the day quickly came and Harry found himself holed up in the library with Hermione, catching up with the homework. Ron had been adamant he did not want to do homework and was bugging anyone he could in the common room to play chess with him.
Harry stretched out of his hunched posture he had positioned himself in whilst working and closed his textbook, officially done for the night. Hermione was still scribbling away on her paper so Harry began packing up.
"Time to finish already?" Hermione yawned, surfacing from her work.
"Well I'm finished, don't know about you," Harry said, standing up from his chair.
"Yeah I'm finished, I went over the inch limit anyways," Hermione replied, closing her textbook and shoving it into her bag.
They walked back together to the common room, mostly conversing about the galleon that Hermione had created and the complexity of the Proteus charm. Harry was once again reminded just how smart and magically inclined his best friend was.
When they got back to the common room, Ron and Dean were playing a game of chess. Harry sat and watched, Ron predictably winning the match by a landslide.
"Argh! You are too good at this," Dean groaned, flopping back onto the couch.
"Learnt from the best," Ron smirked, packing up the board. By the best, Ron meant his father, who was notoriously good at wizard chess and had won many tournaments in his youth. The twins used to complain that he would make more money being a chess player than a member of the Ministry.
"Dinner time?" Ron asked, finishing packing up his chess pieces.
Hermione nodded. "Yeah the hall should open soon,"
Harry and Hermione first went up to their dorms to deposit their books before they walked along with other members of their house to the Great Hall, where rumbling stomachs mingled with the murmurings of conversation. For once Hermione was not walking with them and walking with the other girls of their year, Parvati Pavil and Lavender Brown. Harry had to admit he really didn't know much about either of them.
Girls weirded him out, Harry decided. Except for Hermione, who was always an exception. She was his best friend after all and although still weird, her being a girl didn't freak him out as much as Lavender or Parvati being a girl did.
Harry then spoke with Ron along with Dean and Seamus about Quidditch, which seemed to be the only topic for the boys to talk about at the moment, nothing else really interesting them in their spare time. Neville walked along with them, but stayed quiet, his fear of heights causing a fear of Quidditch.
They all entered into the Great Hall and sat, food overtaking their need for conversation. Harry's eyes roamed the hall in his usual habit and landed on Draco, who seemed to actually be eating this time and not just picking at his food. Harry felt lighter seeing this, relieved that Draco finally seemed to be improving.
Harry ate until he was stuffed and, with his free time, looked around the hall once again. First he found himself looking to the teacher's table, mostly at Professor Snape, who seemed to be trying to tell a blathering Gilderoy Lockhart to shut up with his body language.
Harry continued to look around the Great Hall, observing without really absorbing anything. Eventually he trailed back to Draco, who was laughing with his friend Zabini and, even though he wasn't laughing with Harry, he couldn't find any jealousy within himself. He was just happy to see his friend finally looking okay again.
Eventually, the rest of his friends finished eating and Harry, feeling the lethargy of a full stomach, slowly made their way back to the Gryffindor common room. He and Hermionie said their goodnights, Hermione still exhausted from making her coin and Harry equally worn out from cleaning the shack last night. It was to be an early night for them both.
Harry found himself in an empty dorm whilst the others were either finishing last minute homework or simply hanging out in the common room, not wanting to go to bed yet. Harry put on his pyjamas and curled under his covers, falling into a peaceful sleep.
Draco gasped awake, sweat making his silk pyjamas cling to him. He couldn't remember the dream he had exactly, but the echoes of a snake hissing through his head reminded him that it wasn't a pleasant one. He turned to his nightstand and found his watch, discovering it was two in the morning. He groaned quietly and got out of bed to change his clothes, and then crawled back into bed, hoping that sleep would fall upon him again.
However, after who-knew how much time had passed, he found that he couldn't fall back asleep, much like the nights before and conceded to another night of wakefulness. Draco knew that these nightmares were connected to the diary, there was no way around it. However, he was too ashamed to ask for help, he would have to take a hit to his pride to say that he was talking to a diary that replied to him. He knew he would be chastised for it.
Draco stared up at the ceiling, wondering whether or not he should do something with his time, but he had so little energy that he just lay there and stared. He was having such a good day too, which makes this suck even more. He had, for the first time in a few weeks, been able to talk to Harry. Even if the conversation was short, just being close to Harry and being able to catch up with him had reenergized something in Draco. Perhaps he had a Harry battery now.
A battery that was desperately uncharged.
Then, he had received the coin from Harry. Draco, reminded by this thought, leant over to his bedside table and opened the drawer. He picked up the coin, which to an untrained eye looked just like a regular galleon. He flipped it through his fingers. A coin that Harry had touched. A coin that had been made for Draco to use. Just for Draco.
He held the galleon firmly in his palm, the cold metal biting into his skin and found his eyelids drooping. Then he was asleep. Dreaming of nothing but green, just like Harry's eyes.
Harry breathed in and concentrated. This was the last stain to be fixed in the shack. The final stubborn brown spot that will no longer exist by the time Harry is done with it.
Harry casted Tergeo and the brown spot—which he still suspected to be blood—came undone and melted away into the floorboards. Harry sighed and crashed onto the floor. The last of his magic drained. He looked around the shack and a sense of accomplishment washed over him. He cleaned this dilapidated shack all on his own, and now all that was left was to transfigure some furnishings and perhaps open up the building to let in some natural light, and then it would be ready for Draco.
Harry quickly scooped up his invisibility cloak and made his way back to the castle. The Halloween Feast was only a few days away now, and Harry had decided to use the feast—where everyone should be—to drag Draco away and show him the Shrieking Shack. Hopefully no one would notice their absence.
Harry, with his cloak on, manoeuvred his way through the castle. Mrs Norris had caught a whiff of him as he was getting to the stairs of Gryffindor Tower and began calling for Filch's attention. Harry flew up the stairs, trying to be as silent as possible, but he had to be back in the common room before Filch came charging along.
Harry safely made it to the portrait just as he began hearing Filch's angry mumblings.
"Wattlebird," Harry whispered to the sleeping Fat Lady. The Fat Lady mumbled something and swung open and Harry rushed inside. He breathed out a sigh of relief and, as no one was in the common room, he removed his invisibility cloak.
Harry walked up the stairs quickly and quietly, changing out of his uniform and putting on his pyjamas. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Harry awoke in the morning with a pounding headache. A headache that he had not expected, but perhaps he should have not gone so overboard last night with his magic. Clearly he had almost completely drained his reserves simply just using cleaning spells.
Harry entered the common room, but only Hermione greeted him.
"Are you feeling alright Harry?" Hermione asked, noticing Harry rubbing his temples.
"Yes, I just woke up with a headache, that's all," Harry replied.
Hermione gave him a concerned look. "Want to see Madam Pomfrey?"
"Nah, it's fine, it will probably go away on its own. Ready to head to breakfast?"
"Yeah, Ron's gone with Seamus and Dean already. He didn't want to wake you up this time, said you were sleeping too soundly."
Harry laughed, which caused his head to pound harder and he winced, instantly regretting the laugh. Hermione gave him another concerned look but didn't say anything. They started their way to the Great Hall, not really talking as Harry continued to suffer from his headache.
Harry suffered through Potions class. Draco had unfortunately not been paired with him this lesson and kept sending him worried glances across the room. Harry gloriously failed at his and Ron's potion and got told off by Snape, which didn't help his headache at all. When lunch came around, the headache had subsided slightly, but it still pressed at the front of his head. He ate as much as he could at lunch without feeling waves of nausea, then lagged to his next class of double Charms.
Charms went by quickly and Harry got away with doing the bare minimum. After dinner, he was feeling marginally better and he took this lack of headache to now catch up on work that he had not been able to do throughout the day. Harry curled himself up on an armchair by the common room fireplace, using a book to lean his paper on as he worked.
By the time he was finished, his knees ached and his wrist was sore, but he had caught up with his homework and now was ready to crash into bed. The headache that had accompanied him throughout the day was now just a dull ache in the back of his head, which he easily ignored.
Harry awoke the day before halloween feeling refreshed and ready. He was eager to go to the Shrieking Shack tonight and finish off fixing it up, but first he had to get through the school day.
The morning began with double Herbology. Professor Sprout taught them about plants that Harry really didn't care for, but he was glad enough to be outside enjoying the fresh damp air of the greenhouse. It was a nice change of pace compared to the dusty castle that always seemed too cold. history
Harry just wanted the school day to end so desperately—he had things to do and not much time to do it. Finally after Transfiguration and History of Magic, Harry rushed to the Shrieking Shack, this time risking going before most were heading to bed. He needed to get the Shrieking Shack fixed with only one night left to do so.
Harry, under the cover of dusk and his invisibility cloak, froze the whomping willow and quickly huddled underneath it, opening the door that led to the secret corridor. Harry quickly made his way down the dark path, no longer feeling as if he was being followed as he walked, before emerging into the shack..
Harry had managed, through many attempts, to transfigure old pieces of wood and other such discarded objects into cushions and blankets. He had brought a few actual blankets with him, but not enough for comfort. His transfiguration jobs were a little bit choppy, with some of the pillows still having the pattern of burnt wood on them. However, they were soft and comfortable and that was all that really mattered.
Harry then began transfiguring the wall paper on the walls to make the shack look a little more inviting. The spells were tricky, thankfully the fifth year transfiguration textbook that he thought to borrow off Percy Weasley—who kept all of his old textbooks—came in handy and Harry managed to do an acceptable job. He stood back to admire his work and nodded, impressed that he had managed to do all of the spells in a reasonable amount of time. Perhaps he should try harder in Transfiguration, but that was a thought for another day. He had to finish up here or he would miss curfew.
By the time Harry felt he was finished with the shack it looked completely different to how he had first discovered it a week ago. The square room now looked open and inviting, with the far right corner possessing the blankets and pillows that Harry had transfigured. Then in the opposite corner, he had put the table he had transfigured from the decaying bed to give them a place to sit. He had only made one chair to go along with the chair the room already had. The room now looked like it was already lived in, though it could do with a few more things added along the way, but that could be thought about at a different time.
He had transfigured the wallpaper to be a light blue colour, making the shack look more bright then it really was. He didn't want to remove too many of the boards that were over the windows and had only removed a few to allow natural light to filter through. However, this had made all the difference and really gave the shack a homey feeling, which is what Harry had been trying to accomplish.
He was out of energy now and really didn't want to spend any more magic or time on the shack. So, after one more once over, he found himself still feeling satisfied and began his journey back to the castle. It wasn't curfew yet, but Harry still creeped cautiously back to his house. A few students loitered here and there, and Harry was very grateful for his father's invisibility cloak.
Harry sighed a breath of relief and took off his cloak before he stepped into the common room. He gave the password to be let in and walked through the hole, hoping to find the common room fairly empty. As he stepped in and straightened himself, the common room was mostly empty except for a few seventh years, who looked up at Harry but asked no questions.
Harry awkwardly nodded at them and continued to his dorm, finding Neville to be the only one still awake.
"Where have you been Harry?" Neville asked, setting down the book he was reading.
"Oh, uh, just taking a walk," Harry lied, giving Neville a smile, which only made the boy give him a more suspicious look.
"I hope you're not up to no good, Harry," Neville said, shaking his head.
"I'm not, I promise." Harry laughed, but he knew he sounded a bit guilty which he couldn't help. He didn't like lying to his friends.
Harry got into his pyjamas, said his goodnights to Neville, and closed the curtains to his bed. Harry, feeling jittery with excitement for tomorrow, found it hard to calm down and go to sleep. However, after a while the exhaustion from over-using his magic began to pull him under and he was drifting off to sleep.
The day of Halloween had finally arrived! The castle was brimming with excitement, for the Halloween Feast was known as one of the grandest feasts that Hogwarts held, besides the end of year feast of course. Harry was more looking forward to his plans with Draco than the feast. He had managed to get Ron to promise to save him some treacle tart anyways, which was what he was mostly looking forward to.
Lessons were laid back today, for teachers knew the students were too excited about the feast to really concentrate on their work. Harry wrote the letter he was going to send to Draco during class and thought how he was to give it to him. Harry then thought of that peculiar house elf that Draco had said would be working in the castle. Now that was an idea.
At the end of the day, Harry caught up with the twins in the common room, interrupting their conversation.
"Hey guys, can I see that map again?" Harry suddenly asked, bustling up to Fred.
Fred put his hand into his pocket. "What do you need it for?"
"I want to head to the kitchens, I, um, need something from there," Harry replied, hoping the twins would help without asking too many questions.
"Oh, we've been there plenty of times! Here, listen carefully; in the entrance hall, go through a door on the right and you'll find yourself in a corridor full of paintings with food. If you tickle the pear in a bowl with your wand, the painting will open and there you are! You have found the kitchens!" Fred explained and George nodded, confirming this.
"Now, dont go telling everyone this Harry, or they'll move the entrance," George warned and Harry nodded, promising not to tell anyone.
"Thanks guys. Okay, well, got to go." And with that, Harry took off, heading towards the kitchens.
He found the door with ease and looked around before opening it, and found himself in a corridor just as Fred had described. He walked down a little ways, searching each of the paintings until he found the right one. When he had found the pear in the fruit bowl, he got out his wand and scratched it against the pear. The pear jiggled and then the painting swung inwards, revealing a small corridor. Harry had to crouch as he walked through and, when he came to the end of it, he found himself in a gigantic, high-ceilinged room, almost the same size as the Great Hall. Five tables lined this room in exactly the same way as the Great Hall, with food piled on top of them.
At least a hundred little elves bustled around the kitchens that lined the side of the hall. Pots and pans simmered away. No elf had noticed Harry yet and he was too awed by the kitchen to speak up. When an elf finally did notice him, it squeaked. Harry looked down to the elf and smiled, and the elf bowed quickly, her long nose brushing the floor.
"A student has arrived, how may we help, sir?" The elf asked and Harry instantly felt awkward with the formalities.
"I'm just looking for an elf named Dilly, Have you seen them?" Harry said softly, as to not frighten the elf.
Pipsy gave Harry a confused look and shook her head. "No, I have not heard of an elf called Dilly here, sir."
"Oh well, I really need this letter to be given to a friend before the feast ends, it's a secret and I was hoping maybe an elf could help?" Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly, he was sure Draco had said he was sending an elf here to Hogwarts.
Other elves had begun noticing Harry now; some bowed like Pipsy had and others barely nodded his way. Harry kept an awkward smile on his face so as to not startle anyone and then patiently smiled down at Pipsy, who was giving him a calculating look.
"Pipsy can give the letter sir, if that is what you need." Pipsy bowed and Harry exhaled in relief.
"Thanks Pipsy, you're a lifesaver! The letter is for Draco Malfoy and please keep it quiet." Harry winked and handed the letter to Pipsy. Pipsy took the letter with her small elf hands and nodded in understanding.
"Well, I'll be off. Thanks for all the hard work, Pipsy," Harry said, turning back to the corridor.
Harry walked quickly. Now all he had to do was wait.
After the Great Hall had filled up, Harry awaited outside the side door exit to the castle, awaiting Draco. Harry had instructed him in the letter to meet him here after the feast had begun. He looked down to his watch and expectantly looked around. Draco should be showing up any time soon now.
Five minutes passed, and Draco did not show. Then ten minutes, and Harry began to worry. After fifteen, dread began to develop. Was Draco not going to meet him tonight? Had something occurred, had he perhaps not been able to get away and meet Harry? Or had something more sinister occurred?
After an hour, Harry began to lose hope. He didn't want to give up on Draco, but something in him knew that Draco would not be meeting him tonight. So, Harry dejectedly began walking back to his dorms. Then, upon passing the second floor, Harry heard something hiss.
He paused, frozen to the spot. Those hisses sounded oddly like the ones he had been hearing in his dreams. However the more he tuned his ears to the sound, the more he began to understand it.
"I smell blood…I SMELL BLOOD!" the voice hissed and Harry's instincts jolted him into action. The hissing continued, moving away, and Harry began running. He followed the hissing voice as much as he could, taking his wand out of his pocket.
The hissing seemed to be coming from the walls and quickly began to be difficult to follow. Suddenly the sound died off and Harry splashed in a puddle of water outside of the girls bathroom that no one used. Harry paused to catch his breath. He could no longer hear the hissing, which he wasn't sure he felt good about.
Harry continued cautiously down the hall, positioning his wand in a ready position. When his foot splashed again in another puddle he paused and looked down expecting to see another puddle of water. Instead, he found he had stepped in a puddle of blood.
Harry gasped and stumbled away, his floundering making him look up and see a cat who looked too much like Mrs Norris hanging from the light fixture. Harry froze and looked on in horror at the wall where red, wet words shimmered in the candlelight.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.