To evade the many questioners, Luna skipped out on the Halloween feast with Lisa who didn't much like crowds anyways. They hid out in the common room snacking on treats Lisa's parents had sent her until Lisa decided that she needed to go to the library for research.
"Did you hear that?" Luna asked halting not too far away from the library.
Lisa listened intently in case whatever Luna had heard sounded again and then shook her head. "I didn't hear a thing. What was it?"
Luna held up her hand for silence. "It's coming from over there."
Lisa hesitated before following behind her friend. "I don't hear anything," she repeated.
Luna looked at her with wide, surprised eyes. "Really? It's quite loud. The voice is saying that it wants to kill and it wants blood."
Reaching out to grab Luna's arm, Lisa stopped walking pulling Luna to a stop too. She tended to play along with Luna's beliefs, but hearing voices went beyond the usual harmless tales that Lisa had gotten used to. "Er, maybe we should tell someone else about this."
"But it might be too late by the time we find someone. Whoever's talking wants to harm people."
Lisa bit the inside of her cheek nervously. "Are you sure this voice is real?"
Luna tilted her head in thought. "I suppose I can't be completely sure, but we better not risk it." She pulled her hand out of Lisa's grasp. "Let's hurry up. The voice is travelling quickly."
Luna followed the sound of the hissing voice up to the second floor and next to the girls bathroom that Moaning Myrtle haunted. At the sight of the stiff cat and the message written in a substance the color of blood, Lisa let out a shriek and Luna felt tears build up in her eyes. Before they could run for help, students started pouring into the corridor having finished up the Halloween feast.
A few minutes later, Lisa and Luna sat in Dumbledore's office with a distraught Filch and a distressed Professor Flitwick. "Why didn't the two of you attend the Halloween feast?" Dumbledore asked peering at the children through his glasses.
"I didn't want to make any more predictions about people's futures," Luna answered easily. "They sometimes get upset with me."
"What kind of an excuse is that?" Filch screeched. "Why were you the first ones at the scene of the crime?"
"I doubt we were the first ones there because that would imply that no one committed the crime which I highly doubt," Luna started. Filch opened his mouth to say something -no doubt something angry and caused by the anguish of losing his beloved cat- but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence him. "I think the thing that did commit the crime was the one saying that it wanted to kill although I can't be sure since Mrs. Norris is only petrified, not dead."
Dumbledore stared piercingly into Luna's eyes. "What do you mean by 'the one saying it wanted to kill'?"
"I heard a voice that sounded like it was in the walls. It said, 'Let me kill you' and 'I smell blood' and other such things. Following the voice led us to Mrs. Norris," Luna explained sending Filch an apologetic look as she brought up the cat.
Dumbledore switched his gaze to Lisa who still looked pale from the discovery of Mrs. Norris' seemingly dead body. "Did you hear the same voice?"
"Er-" Lisa glanced over at her friend. She didn't want to make Luna seem like a crazy person by admitting she hadn't heard a thing, but she didn't want to lie to the headmaster either.
"No, she didn't," Luna answered making up Lisa's mind for her.
"What did you do to my cat?" Filch accused no longer able to hold it in.
"It wasn't Luna." Lisa had found her ability to speak. "Or me. Mrs. Norris was like that when we arrived."
"Now, be reasonable, Argus," Flitwick admonished. "I understand that you're upset by what has transpired, but Luna is a first year and Lisa is a second year. They couldn't possibly have the capability of pulling off this level of magic."
"Then who did it? Am I supposed to believe this story of a mysterious voice in the wall that one of the girls didn't even hear?"
"That is what we are trying to figure out," Dumbledore interrupted. "Luna, is there anything else you can tell me about the voice?" "I don't know." Luna frowned. The voice had sounded empty and strange, but she didn't quite know how to explain it. She ended up just saying, "I didn't like it."
Folding his hands in front of him, Dumbledore nodded once. "Ok. Thank you for your help. The two of you may leave."
"You can't just let them go!" Filch protested.
Dumbledore levelled a gaze at the caretaker. "Argus, I promise you I will do everything in my power to figure out who attacked Mrs. Norris, but these two girls are not the culprits. They're tired and upset, and they need a good night's sleep after the events of the evening."
Lisa, who had gotten up as soon as Dumbledore dismissed them, stared questioningly at Luna as she stayed seated staring at the headmaster. "Is Professor McGonagall going to be ok?" Luna blurted out after Dumbledore finished talking.
Dumbledore raised his brows at Luna. "I have every reason to believe that Professor McGonagall is not in any danger. Is there a particular reason you're inquiring after her?"
Luna nodded wondering why Dumbledore hadn't made the connection himself. "The victim tonight was a cat. I'm worried the attacker is going after cats and that Professor McGonagall will be next on the list."
"You know about Professor McGonagall?" Flitwick squeaked.
Lisa swung her head wildly towards her head of house in shock. "You mean it's true?"
"Yes, Miss Turpin. Professor McGonagall is a cat animagus," Dumbledore confirmed. Lisa relaxed a bit as she realized Luna wasn't completely right about McGonagall being a cat. Still, she wondered how Luna's guess had been so close. "But she is rarely in cat form, and we don't yet know that the attacker is targeting cats."
"If she's an animagus, then she should be fine," Luna decided. She was pleased to find out that McGonagall was a human animagus rather than a cat humagus. She wasn't sure if the wizarding world was ready to accept humagi yet. "I don't think the attacker would count a cat animagus as an actual cat."
With that, Luna got up to leave much to Lisa's relief. Lisa could really use that good night's sleep Dumbledore mentioned.
The next attack came two weeks later. This time, the victim was not a cat, putting a hole in Luna's theory that the attacker was targeting cats. "The message said that they were going after muggleborns," Nashira pointed out in annoyance when Luna expressed her disappointment at her theory being wrong. "Anyone with sense could see that means the muggleborns are the target."
"No one asked your opinion," Lisa said in defense of her friend as she glared at Nashira.
"One doesn't have to receive an invitation to express her opinion. Especially not when you two insisted on sitting at my table and talking about nonsense."
Lisa folded her arms and frowned at the conceited girl across from her. She certainly hadn't wanted to sit at the same table as Nashira, but Luna had decided she had a companionship with Nashira due to their shared boat ride on the way to the castle. "Are you ever not rude?"
"Some might say it's rude to have a loud discussion when someone is trying to study right across from you two," Nashira shot back heatedly.
Luna quickly grabbed her wand and copied the motion she'd made on the boat ride. "Banishio!" she spelled.
Nashira rolled her eyes. "There's no such thing as quarrel fairies, Luna. It's time you grow up."
Luna shook her head sadly at Nashira's narrow-minded views. "You're so blind, Nashira. I'm sorry about whatever happened to make you deny anything slightly out of your comfortable set of beliefs."
Grumbling, Nashira went back to her studies deciding to just ignore the other two girls from then on. Lisa stifled a laugh before restarting the conversation with Luna. "Did you hear the voice again?"
Luna shook her head as Nashira peeked back up from her studies at Luna. "What voice?"
Luna lit up at Nashira's participation in the conversation. Lisa didn't understand why, but Luna craved Nashira's friendship. "The voice that led us to Mrs. Norris when the first attack happened. I heard it coming through the walls and followed it to Mrs. Norris."
Nashira flitted her eyes over to Lisa. "Us? Did you hear the voice too?"
"No. Only I could hear it," Luna answered for Lisa again.
Nashira scoffed. "Of course, you hear voices too. Loony Lovegood's at it again."
Lisa kicked Nashira under the table causing her to grunt in pain and reach for her wand. "Weren't you studying?" Lisa asked pulling out her own wand casually. If Nashira wanted to have a go at her, she'd be ready. She had a year of experience on the first year.
Scowling, Nashira pulled her hand away from her wand. "Sure. Keep pretending you believe Lovegood's nonsense, Turpin. Much good it will do her when she finds out her friend pretends to believe her tales for your own amusement."
Luna stood up abruptly grabbing her bag. She was an extremely tolerant person, but even she had her limits with other's discourtesy. "You're being very rude, Nashira. I don't know if I can be friends with you if you don't learn to act a little nicer."
Nashira stared back, a tad surprised but mostly indifferent, as Luna nudged Lisa along and stomped off. Finally, she could study in peace.
A few days later, Luna talked with another of her fellow boat riders, Amanda Shaw, since the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had Potions together and Nashira had refused to sit with Luna, Luna had sat next to Amanda once she recognized her. The two sat together every Potions class since the first one. The first Potions class after the first attack on a human, Luna noticed that Amanda looked pale. She also noticed that Amanda jumped up slightly in her seat when Luna took her seat next to her.
"Is there something wrong?" Luna asked when Amanda settled back down placing a hand on her chest.
"No, sorry." Amanda glanced around the room before leaning in closer to Luna to whisper. "I'm just a little shaken up by the attacks. I had no idea when I came to Hogwarts that I would be in danger for being a muggleborn. I'm thinking of writing my parents and going back home. The only reason I'm not is that I won't have the chance to learn magic if I don't stay. I can't imagine giving it up now that I know about it."
"Oh, don't worry. I don't think getting petrified is too bad. From all accounts I've read, people that got petrified described it as a restful sleep," Luna comforted.
Amanda didn't look any less frightened after Luna's words. "I heard that someone died the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened." Luna had heard that too. "Hey, do you think Voldemort is somehow behind this?" Amanda whispered. "Maybe he's trying to advertise for his underground gambling ring."
Luna smiled, glad that Amanda had read the copies of The Quibbler she gave her to get acquainted with the wizarding world. "He might be. Once word gets out that the Chamber of Secrets is open again, his insiders will know that the gambling ring has returned. We should watch out for anyone that doesn't belong in Hogwarts sneaking around here."
Amanda worried her lip. "Do you think anymore attacks will happen?"
"I hope not." Their conversation cut short as Professor Snape swept into the room launching into a lecture on the effects of lacewing almost before he was visible from the entrance.
After Nashira's advice about learning more about the magical world, Amanda spent her first few days of school gathering intel. One of the people she got information from was Luna Lovegood. Happy to help out a fellow first year and potential friend, Luna dumped her assortment of Quibbler magazines on the table in front of Amanda a couple of mornings after school started. Amanda eagerly dug into the magazines, enthusiastic about learning more, so she wouldn't make a fool of herself by her lack of knowledge.
As a result of her dive into the eccentric articles, Amanda brought up heliopaths during a conversation her dorm mates were having about magical creatures. In an attempt to prove herself savvy to the magical world, Amanda had latched onto one of the most interesting creatures she had read about and picked them as her favorite creature. In response to Amanda's contribution to the conversation, her dorm mates had looked at her dubiously before laughing behind their hands.
At that time, Amanda learned that everything she was reading in The Quibbler was considered to be utter conspiracy nonsense by most witches and wizards. She felt rather embarrassed when she realized that her attempts to fit into the magical world had resulted in her looking like a nutter. Only, when Amanda thought about it more, she decided she should pay more attention to The Quibbler instead of just discounting it like everyone else. As a muggleborn, she grew up with people that would have called her crazy if she expressed a belief in magic. Until receiving her letter from Hogwarts and the subsequent visit by a representative, Amanda, herself, would have called someone that professed their belief in magic a nutter.
With all that in mind, Amanda decided she should give the content of the strange magazine another chance. If muggles could remain ignorant of wizards, then it was entirely possible that wizards were missing out on the existence of a few things as well. Amanda dug back into the magazines lent to her by Luna, and found the accounts very convincing. Amanda became one of the biggest proponents of The Quibbler, making her sort of an outcast in the school. Luna got away with having wacky theories since she was the Girl-Who-Lived, but Amanda had no such fame that allowed her to earn the forgiveness of her schoolmates.
Luna wasn't completely oblivious. She recognized that most of her friends didn't totally believe all the theories she did. As such, she appreciated having a fellow believer in Amanda. It made the conversation about the Chamber of Secrets much smoother when Luna was on the same page as the other participant.
"Why now?" Amanda asked while her and Luna sat by a tree outside in order to carry out this conversation privately. "If Voldemort's not dead, why did he wait until now to reopen the Chamber of Secrets.?"
Luna frowned thoughtfully. "That's a good question. I'm not really sure. He might have waited to make sure people were convinced he was dead, so that he wouldn't become a suspect. Besides, it gave him time to recollect chocolate frog cards."
"Why does he need to recollect the cards? I thought he already bribed all the aurors."
"He did, but he'll need to up the bribes since the stakes are higher now. Besides, there's new aurors that Voldemort will need to bribe."
"Well, I hope he doesn't feel the need to advertise his gambling ring for too much longer." Amanda shivered with fear. "If this continues, I don't think I'm going to come back after Christmas break."
Luna didn't know what to say. On the one hand, she didn't want her friend to leave the school. On the other hand, she respected Amanda's decision to put her safety first. She was saved from having to answer by Ginny approaching the two of them.
"How are the two of you holding up?" Ginny asked as she stopped in front of them. "Everyone I've talked to has been completely freaking out about this Chamber of Secrets thing."
"We're just hoping it will stop soon once Voldemort has gotten his point across," Luna answered, causing Ginny to flinch slightly at the name.
"You-Know-Who is dead, Luna. Remember, you were the one that vanquished him. Or didn't you think he was killed by a casino tycoon?"
Luna nodded. "That's what I thought, but the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets suggests that he probably worked together with the casino tycoon to fake his own death in order to put the suspicion off of him."
Ginny folded her arms, but didn't refute Luna's theory. Instead, she shifted her gaze to Amanda beside Luna. "You haven't looked well lately. Are you alright?"
Amanda bit down on her lip and looked down at Ginny's feet. "If the message is to be believed, he's going after muggleborns."
Ginny sat down next to Amanda and put an arm around her. "It'll be okay, Amanda. Hogwarts is one of the safest places in the world. Dumbledore will take care of this in no time."
Amanda stared back at Ginny with her lips pressed together. "Do you really think so?"
Ginny nodded. "Just, don't go out by yourself. Always walk with someone and get back to bed early. I'm taking that advice too. I may be a pureblood, but I'm not relying on the discrimination of whoever's doing this to keep me safe."
"That's true. And you should try to stay away from any cats," Luna added. "The first victim was a cat, so Voldemort might be targeting both cats and muggleborns."
As Ginny cringed again at the name, Amanda mulled over Luna's suggestion. She supposed she should take into account the fact that the first victim was a cat. It was strange. Why did Voldemort choose to attack a cat if he chose muggleborns as his target? Although, the message had only said, "Enemies of the heir beware", not anything specifically about muggleborns. An idea struck Amanda.
"Slytherin and Gryffindor had a huge disagreement, right?" Amanda asked. According to the legend being spread around the school, that had something to do with the creation of the Chamber of Secrets.
"Yeah, why?" Ginny asked.
"I was thinking, maybe he's attacking cats because Gryffindor's symbol is a lion, and Gryffindor was an enemy of Slytherin," Amanda suggested excitedly.
Luna clapped her hands together. "That's it! It makes perfect sense now. Amanda, you're brilliant." Beaming back at Luna, Amanda didn't notice Ginny's grimace.
"Guys, I don't think that's why Mrs. Norris was attacked," Ginny said.
"Why do you think she was attacked then?" Luna inquired curiously. She was always open to hearing new theories.
Ginny faltered. "Er, I don't know. I think it was just a warning."
"Maybe," Luna said fairly. She didn't want to put down her friend's theory even if she found it rather weak. "But I'm glad you're going to be careful going around the school. If Voldemort is, indeed, going after Gryffindor related beings, that means you're in danger."
Ginny shuddered, both at the name and at the implication that she could be the target of whoever opened the Chamber. "It'll be fine. Dumbledore will take care of this in no time," she repeated, this time to reassure herself rather than Amanda.
Luna smiled encouragingly at her. "I wouldn't worry too much anyways. I heard petrification is actually a good relaxation technique."
Somehow, Ginny wasn't anymore comforted by that than Amanda had been.