(Peeps out of hole) Hi. I know, this is three months late, and I have no excuses, other than some writer's block. I apologize if you think this chapter is terrible. But I've got some good news. I've got a new fanfiction posted, called Magic of the Keyblade. If you like this ff series and Kingdom Hearts, read it. It's kind of a continuation series of this one.
I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY OWN CHARACTERS!
Chapter Six: Parties and Investigations
The next few weeks flew by quickly. I could hardly remember specific days before it all ran together. I did remember the day that Ginny was writing in her diary…
Ginny had started hanging out with the group we had formed. We were all sitting in the library, working on homework together. Ginny sat next to Luna, who was working on her Charms essay. Ginny wrote intently and stopped for a few seconds. Then she would write furiously again. The process continued a few more times before I decided to investigate.
I stood up and walked to the end of the table, where Ginny and Luna sat. I sat down across from Ginny and asked, "What are you doing?"
Ginny visible jumped and slammed her book shut. "N-nothing," the redhead stammered.
I looked at the cover of the book: It was black and shabby.
"Oh, she's writing to her secret friend," Luna said. Ginny nudged her friend with a nervous look in her eye.
I could only hope that Ginny wouldn't write in the diary very often. Unfortunately, the wish didn't come true.
It was October 15. Our group (seriously, we had to get a name) was once again in the library, this time with Draco, Blaise, and Daphne. Mandy was helping Luna and Ginny with their Transfiguration homework. Neville was helping Abby with Herbology. Lisa was helping Harry and Ron with a History of Magic essay. Hermione and Draco were helping Daphne and Blaise with a Potions essay. I was reading a letter from Remus and was almost ready to write one to him.
Harry jumped and knocked his books off the table. "What?" he asked loudly. Several people shushed him. Harry picked up his books. Did you hear that voice?
What voice? I asked.
You didn't hear it?
I shook my head.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," Harry lied, but his eyes betrayed him. "Nothing's wrong."
Halloween rolled around. Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had invited us to his deathday party. On Halloween night, the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors of our group, Ginny excluded, met up in the Entrance Hall.
"Ready?" I asked.
"I guess," Harry replied.
The nine of us walked down a passageway that had been lined with candles that had bright blue flames. With each step I took, it got colder. I pulled my robes tighter around me, and I noticed that everyone except Luna had done the same.
An irritating sound, like a teacher scraping her perfect nails on a chalkboard, rose up to meet us.
"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron whispered.
"If it is," Abby said softly, "I wonder what's making it."
When we rounded the next corner, I saw Nearly Headless Nick, his pearly white feet hovering a couple of inches off the ground. "My dear friends," he said mournfully. "Welcome, welcome… so pleased you could come…" He pulled off his plumed hat and bowed us inside.
An invisible band was playing thirty musical saws on a black, raised platform. The saws could have been charmed to play. Ghosts were everywhere: Some were dancing to the music. Others were at a table with a black tablecloth.
"Shall we have a look around?" Harry asked.
"Careful not to walk through anyone," Ron said. We all split up: Harry, Luna, Ron, and myself in one group; Hermione, Mandy, Lisa, Neville, and Abby in the other.
Ron dragged us to the table covered in black velvet, but then stopped short when he saw the food. It was rotten and had mold all over it. The smell coming from it wasn't that pleasant either.
Harry dragged us back to the far side of the room, where everyone else was standing. Hermione was shaking her head.
"Oh dear," I heard her say.
"Enjoying yourselves?" Nearly Headless Nick said as he drifted over.
All of us lied, saying we were having fun, except for Luna. She said, "It's different."
"I hope you don't mind, Nick," I said, "but we would like to get something to eat. It's been great, meeting so many different ghosts."
"It's no bother!" the ghost said. "But I think they're already done with the main course up there."
"Oh, we can go to the kitchens. Bye, Nick!"
"Happy Halloween!"
"I hope there's pudding," Luna said as we walked down the blue-lit hallway.
"Wait," Ron said, "Dani, you can get into the kitchens? I think Fred and George can, and they won't tell me."
"Sure! I found it in first year."
"Are you sure we can go to the kitchens?" Hermione asked, as if I had suggested that we should go to the Forbidden Forest.
"Yeah. They won't mind."
"I'm going to eat in the Great Hall. I don't want to break any rules." When we reached the Entrance Hall, Hermione pushed open the doors to the Great Hall.
"We're not breaking any rules, are we, Dani?" Mandy asked.
"Why would I suggest it otherwise?" I led them to a passageway off the Entrance Hall. This passage was much warmer than the one that led to the dungeons and Nick's party.
I stopped at a large portrait of a bowl of fruit. I stood up on my tiptoes and tickled the pear, which giggled. The portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the wall. A wave of noise blasted out to meet us.
Small creatures with differently shaped noses, large, floppy ears, wearing towels with the Hogwarts crest were hard at work. They were House-Elves, working hard on the Halloween feast.
A House-Elf walked to us. He was a male with a squashed nose. I remembered him. It was Floppy. "Mistress Danielle!" he exclaimed. "What is she doing here? How can Floppy help?"
"Well, Floppy," I said, "we were at Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, and we didn't get a chance to eat. Could you give us what they're having in the Great Hall?"
"Yes, miss," Floppy said.
Several House-Elves surrounded us and pulled us to a small side table. Several dishes were already there. There were chicken strips, vegetable beef stew, chicken casserole, candy corn, pumpkin pie, and so much more.
We all sat around the table and piled all sorts of food onto our plates and feasted. I noticed that Ron had more on his plate than anyone else.
Half an hour later, with our stomachs full, we left the kitchens. Luna had had more pudding than the rest of us combined. We all went our separate ways: Harry, Ron, and Neville went to the Gryffindor Tower, and Mandy, Abby, Lisa, Luna, and I went to the Ravenclaw Tower.
We walked in and met a crowded common room. Everyone was muttering amongst them selves. A nervous tension was in the air.
"Hey, what's going on?" Lisa asked. All heads turned toward us.
"Filch's cat was Petrified!" Alexander Moon said. "She was found underneath these words painted on the wall: 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.'"
"What could have done that to her?" Mandy asked.
"Don't you know?" Luna asked. "It's obviously a Periwinkle Chaoling. They can Petrify you with their saliva."
"I don't think so," Cho Chang said. I saw her mouth something to her friend with red hair. I couldn't lip read to save my life, but I knew what she said. "Loony."
"C'mon," I said, "let's go to bed.
I climbed into bed half an hour later. Padma was still in the common room, possibly – no, scratch that – most likely gossiping about who Petrified Mrs. Norris. I fell asleep hoping she wasn't gossiping about us.
I woke up the next morning, Abby shaking my shoulder. "Come on, time to wake up," Abby said. It was Saturday morning, so why was she waking me up at – I checked my watch – seven in the morning?
"Why are we up so early?" I asked. It was Saturday morning, and I was planning on gaining some lost sleep.
"Mandy wants to investigate what happened last night," Abby said. "She and Lisa are already in the Great Hall. I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes now."
"Yeah, I'm a hard sleeper. I'll be down there in a few minutes." I got ready as quickly as I could and walked down to the Great Hall with Abby. There, I saw Lisa eating chocolate chip pancakes and Mandy reading a book.
"Let's go," Mandy said when she saw Abby and me arrive.
"Hold on, now," I said as I sat down and piled bacon and eggs onto my plate. "I haven't eaten yet."
Lisa finished eating as soon as I did. "Now let's go," Mandy said.
"Where to?" Abby asked.
"We need to go to the library. We need to see if they have a copy of Hogwarts: a History."
"It's probably checked out," I pointed out. "Other people may be reading it."
"True," Mandy said. "Well, I guess we'll have to get on the waiting list."
"That, or I could get my copy."
"I thought you left yours at my house."
"Follow me," I said. It was time to reveal to them the Room of Requirement.
I led my friends to the seventh floor. When we reached the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, I walked back and forth three times in front of the empty stretch of wall. I need a reading room with my copy of Hogwarts: a History, I thought, blocking it from Harry.
"Uh, Dani," Lisa asked, "did you get lost?"
"No. This is where we're supposed to be." I stopped walking and turned the doorknob that magically appeared. I opened the door, and my friends gasped.
Inside were four comfortable looking reclining chairs arranged in a circle. There was a coffee table in the middle of the circle of chairs with a single book on it. The room itself was small and had a fireplace with a roaring fire on one wall. We all sat down, and I picked up my book and flipped to the small section on the Chamber of Secrets.
"'The founders of Hogwarts, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin, built the castle together,'" I read. "For years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out children who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then they began having disagreements. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magical families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school.'"
"Now we know why the Gryffindors and Slytherins have such a large rivalry," Lisa said, "Go on."
"'Slytherin 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 those who were unworthy to study magic.'"
"This means that all the Muggle-borns are in danger," Mandy said worriedly.
"We have to tell this to the others," Abby said.
"Absolutely."
Later, at lunch in the Great Hall, I was sitting with the Slytherins.
"Who do you think the heir is?" Blaise asked after I had told him, Draco, and Daphne.
"Who knows?" Daphne asked. "I'm just glad we won't be Petrified."
"Who says you won't?" I challenged.
"Well, none of us have Muggle parents. But some of your friends over there…" She gestured to Mandy at the Ravenclaw table and Hermione at the Gryffindor. "I'm just saying that they're in danger."
"So is everyone else here."
"If you get Petrified," Draco said to me, "I'll find a cure for you."
Everybody around us froze. I felt my cheeks grow warm. We all stayed like that until I spoke. "That's sweet of you."
Conversation returned to normal. Draco told me that he was the Seeker of the Slytherin team, although Theodore Nott had tried to buy his way onto the team.
"He's really not a good Seeker," Draco said. "He was rather upset when Flint made him reserve Seeker."
"Well," I said, "I look forward to having the honor to steal the Snitch from under your nose."
"We'll see."
Hey, Harry thought. Ron's curious about what happened last night, so we're about to do some investigating around where Filch's cat got Petrified. Do you want to come along?
Sure. I turned my attention back to the Slytherins. "We're about to do some investigating around where Filch's cat got Petrified. Do you want to come?"
"I'll go," Draco said immediately. Blaise and Daphne politely refused. Draco and I stood up and met Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Mandy, Lisa, Abby, and Luna in the Entrance Hall. Hermione and Draco led the way to the scene. On the wall was written in something dark red, "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware." An empty chair stood against the wall.
"Last night," Draco said, "there was water on the floor here."
"Can't hurt to have a look around," Harry said. He fell to his hands and knees and started looking crawling around. "Scorch marks! Here – and here– "
"Come and look at this!" Hermione said, pointing to a corner on the window. "This is funny…"
We all walked over, but I immediately jumped back. Twenty spiders were scuttling to the topmost pane of the window. I kept my eyes locked on them so that if any jumped toward me, I would know.
"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" Hermione asked.
"That sure is strange," Neville said.
"I don't like spiders," I said quietly.
"I never knew that," Harry said. "What about in Pot-?"
"I get my partner to do it for me. They freak me out, okay?"
"Ron, why are you standing next to her?" Hermione asked.
"Don't – like – spiders," Ron said tersely. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see him staring at a mountain out the window.
Hermione giggled, and Ron explained why he was scared of spiders.
Draco looked away from the spiders and back to where Filch's chair was. "Last night, there was water all through this corridor. Somebody mopped it up. Where did it come from?"
"Probably from there," Luna said, pointing to a door with an out of order sign.
"What is that?" Neville asked.
"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," all of the girls said.
"Let's go," Harry said.
"But it's a girls' toilet," Ron said. "We can't go in there."
"No one ever goes in there," I said reassuringly. I walked up to the door and turned the knob.
The bathroom was really dark. Any light that was in there flowed in from a filthy window. There was a large, cracked mirror against the wall on the opposite side of the door. Under it was a row of cracked and moldy sinks. The floor was damp and looked like it hadn't been cleaned recently. Did Myrtle scare off the House-Elves? The stall doors had flaking green paint and scratches.
Hermione and I walked to the end stall. "Hello, Myrtle," Hermione said, "how are you?"
Myrtle floated above her toilet, her head in her hands. She sighed, but then her eyes moved to something to my left. "This is a girls' bathroom. They're not girls."
Harry, Ron, and Draco were standing next to me.
"We just wanted to give them a tour of the place," I said quickly.
Ask her if she saw anything, Harry thought.
"Myrtle, last night, did you happen to see anything strange? A cat was Petrified right outside your door."
"I wasn't paying attention," Myrtle said dramatically. "Peeves 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," Ron said.
Myrtle started to cry. She flew up and dove headfirst into the toilet. She vanished from sight, but I could still hear her crying in the pipes.
Harry, Ron, and Neville stood with their mouths open. Hermione shrugged. "That's normal for Myrtle… Come on, let's go."
A/N: Again, I am terrible sorry for the long delay. I am already working on chapter 7, and it's going to be a long one.
Thank you to Toshiba Sanders, allan584, jon, FallenStarx3, NAM3 H3R3, and peygoodwin for reviewing!