"Ev!" Violet said in disbelief. The girls didn't notice Draco Malfoy walking up behind them.
"I thought we made a deal! If we met a vampire, I was the one who was going to get bit remember?" Draco stared in disbelief then started to walk backwards.
"Why father?" he whispered to himself then snuck back into the common room.
"Something is in there," whispered Evangeline. "But - but I don't - it's going to kill someone!" she shrieked. She ran and followed trying to listen to the voice.
"Evangeline, I think I should take you to the nurse -" Violet started, but the girls noticed something shining up ahead. They swifly ran up to it and saw it was water. They raised up their cloaks and stepped into it. They approached a large crowd of children whispering and pointing. They were all from different houses. Some bore the expression of excitement, while others looked nervous.
"Look!" Evangeline said pointing up to the wall. Violet looked up.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
"Oh!" said Evangeline and ran to something Violet could not see. She followed it then saw the body in the torchlight.
"Mrs. Norris," said Evangeline. "Violet, is she dead?" Violet studied the cat. She was hanging by her tail and her body was stiff. Her eyes were large and were staring straight ahead.
"I don't know," said Violet and looked straight ahead to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione walking away with Flich, Snape, Dumbledore, Lockhart, and Professor McGonagall. She grabbed Evangeline's arm and dragged her after them. They were very careful not to be seen and watched them file into Lockhart's office. They ran up to the door and pressed their ears to the cool metal.
"It was definetly a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian Torture - I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there," said Lockhart's voice making the girls roll their eyes. "I know the very countercurse that would have saved her..." Filch let out a choked loud sob.
"... I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," Lockahrt continued, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amlets, which cleared the matter up at once..." he continued to go on and on, but Dumbledore interrupted.
"She's not dead." he said softly. Evangeline let out a short sigh of relief.
"Not dead?" Filch's voice asked. "But why is she all - stiff and frozen?"
"She has been petrified," said Dumbledore.
"Ah! I thought so!" Lockhart agreed, but was ignored.
"Though, I can not say how she was petrified." said Dumbledore slightly confused.
"Ask him!" Flich cried and the girls knew he had to be pointed at Ron, or Harry.
"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced-"
"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat. "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found- in my office - he know's I'm a- I'm a... he knows I'm a Squib!"
"Filch is a Squib?" Violet whispered. "Well that's fitting."
"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" said Harry loudly. "I don't even know what a Squib is!"
"Rubbish!" snarled Filch. "He saw my Kwikspell letter!"
"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape's voice and the girls automatically knew trouble was coming for Harry. "Potter and his friends may simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time." The girl's mouths fell open. Snape was defending them? But why them and not the twins? "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corrider at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"
"There we go," Violet whispered. The girls heard of a Deathday party for the Gryffindor house ghost.
"Aww that sounds like fun!" said Violet. "Why weren't we invited?"
"Because we're Slytherins," said Evangeline glumly.
"But why not join the feast afterwards?" said Snape. "Why go up to that corrider?"
"Because - because -" said a nervous Harry, "because we were tired and wanted to go to bed." he said.
"Without any supper? I don't think ghosts provide food fit for living people at their parties."
"We weren't hungry," said Ron loudly, but his stomach betrayed him by growling.
"I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he said. "It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he is ready to be honest."
"Really, Severus," said McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to keep the boy from playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't even hit over the head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong." There was a moment of silence until Dumbledore spoke up.
"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," he said firmly.
"My cat has been Petfried!" Filch shrieked. "I want to see some PUNISHMENT!"
"We will be able to cure her Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandarkes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion to revive Mrs. Norris." Lockhart butted in about making it, but Snape said he WAS the potions master, and that he was the one to make it.
"You may go now." said Dumbledore and the girls skidded behind a wall as the door slammed open and the kids ran down the hallway.
"Do you think Potter did it?" Violet asked. Evangeline shook her head.
"I don't think so, but I can't be sure." They walked out from behind the wall and saw Ginny walking towards them, crying.
"Oh, what happened?" asked Evangeline.
"T-t-the cat died," she sobbed.
"Oh suck it up!" the girls said simultaneously ignoring the fact Ginny didn't know the cat had been petrified. They turned their backs to her and walked down the hallway thinking about the conversation they had heard.
"History of Magic," Violet muttered, kicking her feet up on the desk and leaning back. "Worst subject ever. I would prefer being in Potions or even Charms."
"I wish we could have Care of Magical Creatures," Evangeline sighed.
"Of course you do," Violet said.
The teacher for History of Magic was a ghost, Professor Binns, who apparently took a nap in the teachers' lounge one day, died in his sleep, and got up to teach again the next day, leaving his body behind. The most exciting that ever happened in his class was when Binns entered the room through his blackboard.
He always read his notes in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until everyone was in a deep stupor. The students occasionally came to long enough to copy a date he was talking about or the name of a witch or wizard. Then they would pass out again.
"This class is only good to catch up on my missed sleep," Parkinson would say constantly in the common room. "The sleep I missed from worry if those freaks would attempt to kill me in my sleep."
This no longer effected Violet as much as it used to, but she still got slightly ticked. She no longer cried or anything would their insults would only attack her.
Binns was talking about the International Warlock Convention of 1289 when Hermione put her hand in the air.
"Miss - er -?"
"Granger, Professor," Hermione said. "I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets."
Dean Thomas jerked out his trace of staring out the window. Lavander Brown's head popped off her arms and Longbottom's elbow slipped off his desk. 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. Now, in September of that year, a subcommitee of Sardinian sorcerers-"
He halted in a stutter. Hermione's hand was in the air yet again.
"Miss Grant?"
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"
Binns was watching her in amazement. The girls were possitive that no one had even interuppted him before. Dead or alive.
"Well," Binns said slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose. However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale -"
But now everyone was hanging on his every word. All faces were turned to him. No one was asleep. No one was doing soemthing else. Parkinson wasn't even cleaning the underside of her nails. The twins could tell he was amazed with the amount of interest everyone was showing.
"Oh, very well," Binns said. "Let me see...The Chamber of Secrets...
"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was found 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 Grryffindor, 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."
He paused, gazed blearily around the the room and continued.
"For a few years, the founders work in hamron together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more slective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic familes. 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."
Binns paused again, his lips pursed, looking like a wrinkled, old tortoise.
"Reliable historcal 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 founds 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.
A silence like no other filled Binns's classroom. It was not a sleep, bored silence, but a silence in which the students felt unease, and were begging for more.
"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course," he said, looking faintly annoyed. "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 went into the air again.
"Sire - 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," Binns said.
The class exchanged nervous looks.
"It's probably a giant, montorous snake," Parkinson hissed in Violet's ear.
Violet's intense fear gripped her again, and she fell onto her desk.
"Vi," Evangeline whispered, poking her. "Great job, Parkinson."
"I try," she said.
Evangeline managed to get Violet awake by the end of the lesson.
"My head hurts," Violet muttered, holding her forehead in her hand as they sat for a few minutes on a bench in one of the corridors.
"I know," said Evangeline. "I'm sorry. Parkison can be a nightmare. We need another revenge plan for her." She grinned. "And I have the perfect plan." "
That night when they were sure everyone was asleep, the girls went to work. Evangeline pulled out many colors of sharpie and dotted all over Parkison's face. Violet cut holes into her Slytherin clothes and hid her toothbrush. Evangeline tore out pages in her book, and Violet stuck gum into Parkison's hair. The girls climbed into bed and tried to get back to sleep, but were giddy with laughter.
Parkison was a mess the next day. She looked awful, and her breath smelt awful. She had a large knot in her hair because she refused to cut it, but kept trying to brush the gum out. Her face was like a rainbow and everyone laughed as she walked by. She was going to have to pay for new books since she had "wrecked" her own. The girls sniggered to themselves as she walked by, but nobody paid any attention to them.
Later that day Flint handed the girls two brooms unhappily.
"These'll have to do," he snarled. "You rejects don't deserve good brooms anyway."
"Oh, you won't be saying that when you see us play us tomorrow!" Evangeline said with fake sweetness swiping the broom.
"You better be," he growled. "Dumbledore will be there, and he can take you off the team as fast as he put you on." He walked away, his back to the girls, and they made faces at him that he couldn't see.
"You better be!" Violet impersonated. "Even though I gave you crappy brooms, I expect you to fly as fast as Potter!" Evangeline laughed.
"C'mon," she said. "Let's hurry up and get our homework done so we can get plently of rest tonight."
The next day the girls slipped on their Slytherin wear and tied their hair up tightly. They gripped their brooms and walked into the Great Hall. They recieved glares from the Slytherin, so they decided to sit with the Gryffindors at their table. They plopped down on opposite sides of Hermione and exchanged good lucks. They chatted about the game and wished they were on the same team, but promised not to take it easy on each other.
"EVANGELINE, VIOLET!" screamed Flint's voice. They spun around and saw him with the Slytherin team tapping his foot.
"We better go out to the fields, too," said Wood and got up from the table with the Gryffindor following. The girls walked over to the Slytherin team, taking their precious time.
"You apart of Potter's team now?" Draco asked snottily.
"I wish we were," Evangeline grumbled. They followed the Slytherins to the changing rooms for a pep talk.
"Whatever you do, Beaters try and hit all the good players," said Flint. "Chasers take down as many players as you can, don't be afraid to foul. Evangeline, I swear if any balls go through those hoops-"
"You'll do what?" Evangeline asked crossing her arms across her chest. Flint knew he was beat.
"Now let's go kick ourselves some Gryffindor butt!" he cheered. Everyone cheered along with him, except the girls.
"Yeah," said violet unenthusiastically.
"Woo-hoo," said Evangeline. They got up and followed the team out onto the pitch. The Slytherin team cheered and... that was about it. But when the Gryffindor team came out, the stands came to life with a roar.
"Damn!" whispered Violet, and she and Evangeline mounted their brooms.
"On my whistle," said Madam Hootch their own flying teacher. "Three... two.. one..." with a cry from the grounds the players rose from the grounds and up into the air.
The girls were full of exhileration, their hearts beating against their chests, grins spread across their faces. She blew the whistle, and the Quaffle was thrown into the air. A bludger was flying through the air, and George hit it, but it didn't go the direction he wanted it to. It flew up into the air, but the girls didn't see where it ended. They had to pay attention to the game and not worry about anything else except their posts.
A girl with dark hair on the Gryffindor team took the Quaffle and flew through the crowd of Slytherins. She was nearly shoved off her broom, but she managed to keep the ball in her hands. She let out a grunt as she threw the ball hard and curved, but Evangeline knocked it from the goal with the palm of her hand. Most groaned, while others cheered. Violet made sure the Bludgers weren't going to hit anyone, but one spent most of its time high up in the air.
Even though the other Slytherins had better brooms, the girls played just as good. They were leading sixty to zero, when it started to rain. Though, Quidditch was played in any weather, no matter what. The girls squinted through the raindrops falling from the couldy gray sky. Thunder rolled over head as Madam Hootch blew her whistle, and Gryffindors flew down to the ground.
They talked about something and Violet noticed the Bludger floating in the air waiting for something. They got back on their brooms and Madam Hootch re-blew her whistle. Harry Potter was flying around in circles and pulling off ridiculous loops and spins. The girls wondered what his problem was, but Violet squinted harder into the rain and saw the Bludger was... chasing him?
She gritted her teeth and thought about all the Slytherins who could have put a spell on the Bludger. After a while Evangeline noticed it too. She wanted to go help, but she had goals to keep guard over. She winced as the Bludger slammed into his elbow. She could imagine the sickening crack of his arm breaking. Even though it fell limp at his side, he flew determined towards Malfoy.
"GET HIM, POTTER!" the girls screamed simultaneously over the roll of thunder. Everyone assumed it had been some of the Gryffindor girls. He flew towards Malfoy and he darted out of the way assuming he was trying to attack him. Harry gripped something in his hand which the girls assumed was the golden snitch. His legs were the only things that kept him onto his broom, and he shot down to the ground like a rocket out of fuel. The girls didn't care about the game anymore. They darted to the ground just as he hit it. They threw down their brooms and ran over.
"Harry, are you okay?" Evangeline yelled over the noise.
"Potter, are you alright?" Violet screamed shaking him.
"I WANT THEM OFF THE TEAM! OFF!" Flint yelled. They were sure he was yelling at Dumbledore, but they didn't care. Someone threw them off of him. They looked up and saw it was Lockhart. Potter groaned as Lockhart said something. There was click. Violet got up and dragged Collin away. The Gryddindor team crowded around Harry, and George cheered about him getting the Snitch and that they had won.
"It's all your fault!" Parkinson yelled at them. "You quit playing, you-"
Violet knocked her over into a huge pile of mud. Harry stood up with his arm even more limp at his side. Ron and Hermione helped him up and started to walk.
"What happened?" Evangeline asked.
"Lockhart didn't fix my arm," said Harry. "He removed all the bones inside."
Later that night, the girls were out late. They had just left the library a bit later than they were supposed to, and were taking a secret passage back to the Slytherin dungeons. They had "borrowed" a map from Fred and George that had secret passages ways on it.
"Do you hear that?" Evangeline whispered, coming to a halt.
"Hear what?" Violet asked, shifting the heavy books in her arms.
"That," Evangeline hissed when the hiss came back to her ears.
"There's blood about," the voice hissed.
"Why can't you hear it?" Evangeline asked her sister.
"I don't know," Violet said. "Why do I have the creepy dreams?"
"How am I supposed to know?" she said. "Follow me!"
Evangeline ran off, and Violet ran after her. They ran down the corridor and then through another.
"It's getting louder!" Evangeline called.
"Uh...okay," Violet said, still following her.
"It should be right here," Evangeline said, running her hands along the blank brick wall. "It's strongest - loudest - here."
"Maybe you're just hearing things," Violet said, putting hand on her shoulder. "Come on, let's go."
"Alright," Evangeline sighed in defeat as the voice drifted away.
They walked out the passage and towards the dungeons.
"Are those spiders?" Violet said, pointing to a long line of small spiders, racing each other to get out of Hogwarts.
"Just like us, wanting to leave," Evangeline sighed.
"At least they get to," Violet muttered. "Now, come on."