Title: The Firebrand Chronicles Book Two: After Dark
Summary: No one knew what awaited them upon returning to Hogwarts that year. No one expected a monster to attack the students, and certainly no one expected anyone to assume that Harry Potter was the party responsible. Blaise Zabini certainly didn't. This is his story. Book Two
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter any of its characters or events. They belong to J.K. Rowling
Firebrand Chronicles
Book Two: After Dark
Chapter VI
Halloween saw the hall filled with the usual festivities and fantastic decorations. Live bats swarmed the ceiling, giant jack o' lanterns sat in the corners, and smaller replicas floated in place of the usual suspended candles. The dancing skeletons had been booked and a stage had been set up for them along the far wall. They performed dance after dance at the students' continued applause and request.
The tables were filled with every type of food one could imagine with everyone pigging out on their favorites. Even my cat, Bandit, participated in the festivities. Three quarters of the way through the evening the cat showed up a set of keys dangling in her mouth as she streaked into the hall Filch panting as he ran in behind her. "Catch that cat!" he wheezed. Bandit leapt for the Hufflepuff table and ran its length knocking over plates and dishes as she went. Several students attempted to grab her but missed. To everyone except Filch it was a great game. The hall was soon filled with applause and cheers for the cat as she races around eluding person after person. Bandit switched to the Gryffindor table and Longbottom got a face full of berries and cream as he dived after her and missed.
I twisted in my seat knowing that she would try to pass me as some point and soon enough she did, streaking between the table and the back wall as if knowing she was about to get caught. I leapt for her and landed on my stomach losing all the air from my lungs in the process, but with one hand I had managed to pin her to the floor. Several people clapped as I rose to my feet Bandit restrained in my arms and Filch stalked over to reclaim his stolen property glaring murder at every student who laughed, but convincing her to give up the keys was another matter entirely. Bandit refused to let them go, and I refused to potentially hurt her by yanking them from her mouth. Filch was growing more aggravated by the second and none of it made any difference to Bandit who just purred her heart away. Bandit did eventually let go of her own accord, but only because Pansy offered her a bit of turkey. Eventually the feline settled for draping herself across my shoulders the rest of the evening in exchange for little snacks at periodic intervals. Truly a capital end to a wonderful feast.
Soon enough the feast ended and those who had not already left trailed out of the great hall. Tracey, Theo, and I took our time chatting happily as we exited the hall, but suddenly there was a panicked stream from the stairs to the second floor and we were pulled along with the crowd. As we reach the source of the commotion rumors began running past out ears.
"Filch's cat dead," I hurriedly checked that Bandit was still perched on my shoulder.
"Writing on the wall . . ."
"Chamber of secrets."
"Potter did it?"
At the last Draco began pushing his way forward from someplace behind me and as he passed I decided to follow in his wake. There was something about the whispers that intrigued me and I had to know the truth of them. It wasn't long before we had made our way to the front of the crowd and we could see what had happened. Shimmering in the torchlight painted in what at first glance appeared to be blood were the words, 'the chamber has been opened enemies of the heir beware.' Beneath it, stiff as a board hung Filch's cat.
The front of the crown was silent so when Draco shouted as he walked, "Enemies of the heir beware you'll be next mudbloods," his voice carried in the gloom. I expected someone to attack him. No less for the words then the ugly smirk on his face. I knew the majority of my house, myself included in some cases, believed that about half the population of Hogwarts didn't deserve to be there for various reasons, but voicing that opinion was usually a sure fire way to get a free trip to the hospital wing.
Nobody moved though, and another voice cut through the silence. "What's going on here, what's going on?" I could only watch with horror as Argus Filch spotted his cat and fell back with a cry directed at Potter. ". . . you killed her, I'll kill you!"
The only reason I could possibly see for blaming Potter was his proximity to the cat. If it was an attempt to grasp at fame again it was a sick joke and, I thought, beyond that particular Gryffindor's capability. Never –the-less a stir went through the crowd at Filch's words and was only cut short by the arrival of the headmaster himself.
Albus Dumbledore detached the cat from the torch bracket and beckoned to those involved which seemed to include Weasley and Granger to follow him. To no one's surprise Professor Lockhart was on hand to shove himself into the limelight. The crown shoved itself aside to give them room to leave and we were abandoned to our own speculation. Perhaps not for the best.
My curiosity having gotten the better of me I would have liked to remain on the scene to investigate the substance on the wall as well as the water that covered the floor, but Professors Flitwick and Sprout arrived to dispense the students in the general directions of their correct common rooms. I had the pleasure of hearing Sprout tell the Creevey kid that if he snapped one more picture he would receive a detention. My own attempt to linger was disrupted by Professor Flitwick who seized my elbow and marched me towards the stairs. "Now Mr. Zabini as much as I appreciate your inquisitiveness in the class room now is simply not the time for it." I bade him good night and headed back down towards the Slytherin common room catching up with Pansy and Draco on the way. Theo and Tracey had long since returned on their own, neither person having any sort of interest in drama or mysteries.
"Blaise, will you stop looking over your shoulder!" Pansy snapped at me after the fifth time I looked back. "There's nothing there, no puzzles, no tricks, nothing you haven't already seen!"
"What about the water?"
"Myrtle was probably upset."
"Myrtle? You mean the ghost who cries all the time?" Draco asked, I was shocked that he cared to remember a fact like that.
"Yes her." Pansy's nose lifted into the air as if to say she believed that answer should be obvious.
"Why does she cry?"
"Honestly, Blaise, why does anybody cry!
"But . . ." I began to continue as Draco grabbed my arm.
"I think you better drop it" he hissed "Pansy obviously isn't in a thinking mood right now," he grinned. "This is the most interesting thing to happen here in a long time. Just imagine, if all the mudbloods get scared enough they'll go scurrying home."
"Never mind the Muggleborns," I said back though the idea of anything attacking the students didn't appeal to me at all. "I just want to sit through a class where somebody doesn't do something stupid."
Speculation on the chamber of secrets was all anyone would talk about for days. Especially since the teachers couldn't remove the paint. The library became so crowded with people searching through the archives that I took to avoiding it altogether. Not that I wasn't intrigued. The idea of a secret chamber inside Hogwarts interested me far more than the first floor corridor of the previous year. I was so certain that the attacker had to have left something behind that Pansy had to drag me away from the place on several occasions.
Theo and Tracey eventually learned to share my curiosity, probably because I wouldn't shut up about it, though they remained a great deal more restrained in their speculations and attempted to reign in my enthusiasm as well. There was, however, no objection to my sending home for some books I knew to be shelved in the family library. Mother sent them immediately though I told her nothing about the attack. I simply indicated that I wanted the text for some extra research material. True, though the facts were missing.