A/N: I am not sure, but this chapter might be a bit too fast. It is revised.

I forgot this last time and even this time i havent checked. Anyway the idea about the Ayesha's family being able to pass on magical energy to younger ones was not entirely mine. I built it on an idea from, i think, The Name Is Potter Black. I decided to provide the reference.

On with the chapter now.

Chapter 12: Petrifications

"Finally! Back to school," said Dudley slumping to his seat.

The Famous Five were in their compartment. Harry, Dudley and Ayesha were sitting on one side whereas Ron and Hermione were sitting across them.

"I'd never apparated before," said Ron excitedly. "I can bet ten galleons Mom was not happy about it."

"I didn't like the feeling of apparition," said Harry, "I felt I'd get sick."

"You get used to it after some time," said Ayesha.

"Long time to go before we get used to it," said Hermione, "We don't get license for it before seventeen."

"Hey Ayesha, do you have your Sony player with you?" asked Dudley.

"No," replied Ayesha, "It doesn't work in Hogwarts, so I didn't bring it."

"Why?" asked Ron.

"Well … according to Nanaji," she made her voice slightly hoarse, "the magnetic waves of the player are affected by magical waves or something." She added in her original voice, "Honestly, I didn't understand much beyond this. He always keeps on explaining me the science behind magic."

"He must have been a Ravenclaw, right?" said Harry.

"No," said Ayesha, smiling, "He studied at Beauxbatons. Our whole family except for me and my grandmother went to Beauxbatons."

"Another school?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," replied Ron.

"How many other schools are there?" asked Dudley.

"Only one more," replied Hermione, "Durmstrang."

They discussed the schools where Ayesha told them about Beauxbatons and Hermione about Durmstrang, before it turned to holidays.

"What did you do in holidays, Hermione, since you didn't have the books with you?" asked Ron, winking at others.

"I was researching on Voldemort," Hermione replied matter-of-factly.

Ron gasped and gaped at Hermione.

"What?" she asked him.

"Since when did you start taking his name?" asked Ron, still gaping at Hermione.

"Fear of a name increases the fear of a thing," replied Hermione, "Dumbledore takes his name -"

"Yeah," snapped Ron, "Because he is Dumbledore."

"Oh, come on, Ron," said Harry, "it's just a name and Hermione's right."

"Yeah," said Hermione, "and he's one horrible thing, a maniac, a psychopath a- a – whatever … I requested Daily Prophet for all the news clippings on him. I also read whatever I could find about him in the books. He is no less than Hitler."

"Who's this Hit- er – whatever," asked Ron.

"Hitler," replied Ayesha, "was a muggle psychopath, who wanted to rule the world. He did all horrible things you can imagine to Jews, killed them and whatnot."

"I don't understand one thing, Ayesha," asked Dudley, "Agreed you know about the wizard world. How do you know so much about muggle world?"

Hermione glared at Dudley.

"I've been living," she started, "in an orphanage since I was three years old. When my parents were murdered by Voldemort, Nanaji took me to his house. Nanaji convinced his family to take me in as I had no one else. They did but I was an outcast, all thanks to Voldemort. They always feared I'll curse them or hex them. Seeing the hostility of the family members towards me, Nanaji decided to shift me to orphanage. I attended Muggle school before coming to Hogwarts."

There was an awkward silence in the compartment for few moments before Ron decided to break it.

"Where's Nagini, Ayesha?"

"H.m.m …" mumbled Ayesha, "Oh … Nagini … I can't take her to orphanage, so I left her at Hogwarts only. I'll have to think of something for her. She wasn't happy about being left alone in the school and that too without any company."

"Oh I love Malfoy's expressions whenever he sees Nagini," said Harry, apparently reliving one such moment.

The sorting went fine and Ginny, Ron's sister, was sorted into Gryffindor. Dumbledore announced a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Now we understood why we got all his books this year," said Fred.

"Doesn't look better than Quirrell," sighed George.

The second years didn't have to wait for long as Lockhart proved his competence, or rather lack of it, the very next day. He brought a cage full of Cornish Pixies and set them free in the class and the worst part was he, himself, didn't know how to get them under control. The whole class was in chaos. Pixies shot in every direction like rockets. They ripped books apart, sprayed inks everywhere and broke the glasses of windows. Lockhart left Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ayesha and Dudley to 'nip them in the cage'.

When Ron tried to cast a spell on them, a set of pixies caught his wand and broke it into two. It was only after Hermione cast a Freezing Charm on them that others knew what to do with the pixies.

The rest of the week was not any good. Harry landed himself in a detention for arguing with Professor Snape in Potions class. Nagini had curled itself around Ayesha the moment she went to meet it and had refused to let go. So, Ayesha carried her to all her classes. It turned out to be a bad idea as Justin Finch-Fletchley, a Hufflepuff, spotted Nagini and the Hufflepuffs were dead scared of Ayesha since then.

On top of this all, Colin Creevy, a first year Gryffindor, kept following Harry all around the castle, clicking his pictures. Once when Lockhart saw Colin clicking Harry's pictures, he gave Harry a nice lecture about fame.

All in all the first week at Hogwarts was not that good. The five of them were sitting in the Great Hall having their dinner and discussing Ron's wand, which was either back-firing spells or letting out volleys of firecrackers. It was at this moment that Harry got a note from Professor Snape telling Harry that he was to do his detention with Lockhart after dinner.

"Great," slurred Harry, "A perfect end to a perfect week."

After dinner, Harry gloomily waved good-bye to his friends and set off to Lockhart's office. He knocked on Lockhart's office door, weighing detention with Snape against one with Lockhart, in his mind. The door flew open at once and Lockhart beamed at him. Detention with Snape would have been better, thought Harry.

Lockhart made Harry address the envelopes while he sat beside Harry signing his own photographs. Harry mechanically kept doing his work, occasionally hearing Lockhart's phrases like, "Fame is a fickle friend, Harry," or "Celebrity is as celebrity does."

It seemed like eternity for Harry, who was now very tired of writing addresses on some thousand envelopes. His thoughts drifted to what his friends would be doing at that moment when he heard it. It was a cold and scary voice.

"Come … come to me … let me rip you … kill you … let me kill you …"

Harry gave a loud jump, looking around frantically for the source of the voice. The puzzling part was that Lockhart hadn't heard a bit of it. He simply waved it off saying Harry must have been feeling drowsy. Harry was sure he had heard the voice but Lockhart wouldn't take any of it and sent Harry back to his common room. Harry strained his ears on his way to Gryffindor common room to hear the voice again, but there was nothing … no voice.

Harry told the others about his last night incident and everyone had their own theories. According to Ron, Lockhart was a git, who wouldn't hear anything than his own laud. Dudley, however, agreed with Lockhart's opinion and said Harry might be feeling drowsy. Ayesha and Hermione thought someone might be playing a trick to scare Harry and Lockhart. But Harry was convinced he had heard the voice and it was dangerous.

Days went by and soon it was Halloween. Harry returned from Quidditch practice that night, only to find the common room empty. Ron had left a note to Harry, informing him that they were waiting for him at the dinner. Harry went to his room for a quick shower. It was on his way to the Great Hall that Harry heard the voice again.

"…rip… tear… kill…"

Harry stumbled to a halt, clutching the stone wall, listening with all his might

"…soo hungry… for so long…"

The voice was growing fainter.

"…kill… time to kill…"

Harry was sure it was moving away. He was about to go after the moving voice when he heard someone shout his name. Harry turned to find an incredulous Ron staring at him.

"Where are you going, mate?" he asked, "Great hall's that way." Ron pointed in the Great Hall's direction.

"Ron," whispered Harry, he could still hear the faint voice, "I heard the voice again. It's moving up there." Harry pointed to the opposite direction. "It's moving …"

Harry started running, climbing up the stairs in the direction of the voice. Ron yelled something, which Harry didn't pay any attention to. He kept on sprinting towards the voice. He could still hear it, though it was getting fainter. Suddenly he could hear the voice no longer. He stopped panting, looking around, squinting against the dark to spot the source of voice. He was soon joined by Ron, Ayesha, Hermione and Dudley, all panting and trying to catch their breath.

"Why the hell is there so much water here?" asked Dudley.

"Bet Moaning Myrtle did it," replied Hermione, "She must have flooded the toilet."

Before Dudley could ask anything about Moaning Myrtle, Ayesha gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor.

"Look!" was all she could say.

Something shining was glistening on the wall. They all edged nearer the wall slowly. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"What's that … hanging underneath it?" asked Ron, his voice shaking a little.

It took no more than a minute for them to identify what it was. It was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, still as dead, hanging upside down by her tail from a torch bracket.

"Let's get out of here," said Dudley.

"Yeah," agreed Ron, "We wouldn't want to be seen here."

But, it was too late. From either end of the passage, came the sounds of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud and happy talk of well fed people. Soon there were students at either end of the passage, silent and staring at the writing on the wall. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dudley and Ayesha stood in the middle of the passage.

Someone shouted through the silence.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" It was Draco, who had pushed to the front of the crowd. He grinned at the sight of immobile cat and then glared evilly at Hermione and Dudley.

Soon, Filch arrived at the scene, apparently attracted by Draco's shout. He went berserk to see his cat immobile and blamed Harry for murdering his cat. Harry was sure Filch would have killed him had it not been for Dumbledore. Dumbledore swept past the five kids and removed the cat from the bracket. He ordered all the students to proceed to their dormitories except Ron, Harry, Ayesha, Hermione and Dudley.

Lockhart led Dumbledore, Professors Snape and McGonagall and the kids to his office, where Dumbledore examined the cat. While Dumbledore was examining the cat, Lockhart was making all kind of suggestions.

At last Dumbledore said, "She is not dead, Argus. She has been petrified, but how, I can't say …"

"He did it," shrieked Filch, pointing at Harry, "Ask him."

"Argus," said Dumbledore firmly, "No second year could have done this. This is Dark Magic of advanced level."

"Then what were they," said Filch, pointing to all five of them, "doing there in the corridor. Why were they not at the feast?"

All five of them exchanged glances. Harry gulped nervously; he had led all of them here. How would he explain their presence at the scene?

"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape, and all the kids lowered their heads in defeat; whatever Snape was about to say would only worsen the situation for them.

"Potter and his friends were at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said with his usual sneer, "I remember seeing his friends at the feast. Owing to the suspicious circumstances, I would like to ask him why was "Potter not at the feast?"

Harry immediately launched into his explanation about Quidditch practice.

"We decided to go look for Harry as he was late for dinner," said Ron, "We spotted him but he said --" Ron looked at Harry.

Harry was frantically thinking for something to say. Somehow he felt that telling the teachers about a bodiless voice would seem far-fetched. "That I wasn't hungry and would like to take rest instead." Harry finished the sentence for Ron.

Professor Snape raised his eyebrows and turned to look at Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked at the kids one by one, making all of them feel as if they were being X-rayed.

"Innocent until proven guilty," said Dumbledore, firmly.

The kids let out the breath they were holding. Filch looked furious. Dumbledore assured him that they will be able to cure Mrs. Norris once Mandrakes, procured by Professor Sprout, will reach full size and Professor Snape will be able to make a potion out of them. Filch still wasn't keen on letting the kids go without any punishment, but Dumbledore ordered them to go to their respective dormitories.

The kids went out of the office as quickly as possible. The next few days, Mrs. Norris and whatever happened to her was the talk of Hogwarts. Filch had become all the more meaner on students, Draco could always be found with a nasty smile on his face and Ginny seemed to be very disturbed about the whole incident; she was a great cat lover according to Ron.

Hermione tried her best to find about Chamber of Secrets from the library, but it seemed the whole school was interested in knowing the same and hence there was no book left for Hermione to search in. She ultimately asked Professor Binns, History of Magic teacher, who reluctantly told the class about the legend of Chamber of Secrets.

The crux of it all, as Hermione later shared with Dudley and Ayesha beside the lake, was that Salazar Slytherin had made a chamber about which other founders knew nothing. He sealed it before leaving the school owing to his differences with other founders over the selectivity of students; Slytherin wanted to keep the knowledge of magic within the all-magical families. It is believed that within the chamber lies a monster which when unleashed would purge the school of all those people Slytherin deemed unworthy of magic. It is also said that his heir alone would be able to open the Chamber of Secrets and set the monster free.

"I just hope," Dudley mumbled, "those rumours don't start again."

"What?" Ron asked him.

"Harry and Ayesha being Parseltongue," Hermione said, "or they will associate them with this."

"The other day, Justin saw Nagini curled around my neck when we got out of the Herbology class," said Ayesha, "He was dead scared."

"Are you still carrying Nagini everywhere with you?" Harry asked Ayesha.

Ayesha nodded and hissed something. A moment later, Nagini came out of Ayesha's robes and curled herself around Ayesha's neck. It was still small, only three feet long and that's why it couldn't be spotted curled around Ayesha's waist from outside. All four of them were friendly with Nagini; even Hobbit and Hedwig, Dudley's and Harry's owls, had become friends with Nagini.

"But why?" asked Hermione, "You never did that in first year."

"She feels lonely," answered Ayesha, staring after Nagini which had now slithered down to the ground and was hunting for its food. "She was too young when Nanaji sent her; she couldn't even slither properly. Now that she is over one year old, she craves company. Except for Hedwig and Hobbit, no one else comes closer to her. So … I decided to keep her with me all the time. I shouldn't have bought her … but it was more of she found me than I found her."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron.

"Well," said Ayesha, "The shop where I went to buy pets also had few snakes. In India, snakes are considered pious, you know, so the shop had them. I was just looking around when this snake, hardly two months old, called me by my name. I went up to her and opened the cage and she awkwardly slithered to my palm. I couldn't keep her back; she simply won't go down. The shopkeeper was surprised, you know. He told me that this snake had never even looked at anyone else. Nanaji joked that it might be my Familiar. Finally, I decided to keep it."

"Familiar?" asked Harry, "What's that?"

Hermione answered the question, "Familiars are magical animals who know you through and through. They are magically bound to you and obey only your orders. They are very rare."

"So," said Ron, "Nagini is your Familiar. Great!"

"I don't know as yet," said Ayesha, "It can't be confirmed until and unless she shows some magical powers. Only then we will come to know."

"Interesting," smiled Dudley, looking at Nagini.

Apparently, people had indeed forgotten about the first year incident. Therefore, there were no rumours in the Great Hall when the five of them went for breakfast. however, they did find Draco sulking at the Slytherin table

"I wonder what's wrong with Malfoy," Harry wondered aloud.

"He must be dying to tell everyone that he is Heir of Slytherin," Ron said.

"You reckon, he is?" asked Ayesha.

"Of course," said Harry, "Forgot what he said after reading the writing on the wall? 'You'll be next mudbloods!'"

"His whole family had been Slytherin for centuries," added Ron.

"But how to prove it?" asked Dudley, darkly.

"Maybe we can trick Crabbe and Goyle into telling us," suggested Ayesha, looking at Hermione hopefully.

All three boys also turned their attention towards Hermione; she was sure to know a way. "I'll find out a way," said Hermione.

Hermione quickly found out a way. At lunch, she told others about Polyjuice Potion. Harry and Ron were all for it, but Hermione warned them that it was a very difficult potion. Dudley, however, wasn't very enthusiastic about it when he learnt that it would take one month to brew. Since it was the only way, as pointed by Ayesha and Hermione, he gave in.

The first step was to find out a place to brew the potion away from prying eyes. Hermione and Ayesha took the boys with them to the same corridor where Mrs. Norris had been petrified.

"Why are we here?" said Harry, looking around for any sign of Filch.

"We need a place to brew the potion," said Hermione.

"And it's the best place," said Ayesha, pointing to the toilet at the end of corridor.

All five of them moved towards it. Hermione and Ayesha opened the door and stepped in. The boys, however, stood still at the door.

"What?" asked Hermione.

"It's girl's toilet," said Ron, "We can't come in."

"No one would be in here," said Ayesha, "This is Moaning Myrtle's place."

They went inside and found Moaning Myrtle floating above the last stall. She eyed the boys suspiciously, but before she could say anything Hermione asked her about the night Mrs. Norris was petrified. The meeting didn't turn out to be any fruitful as Moaning Myrtle, instead of answering them, started crying and dived head-first into the toilet splashing water all over them.

Now that the problem of a safe place was solved, the next problem was to get the book out of the library. It was in the Restricted Section and one needed a signed note from a teacher to get the books out of there.

However, Dudley found the solution to the problem the moment he saw Lockhart. He grinned widely at others who also understood Dudley's intentions. They all convinced Hermione to get the note signed from him, not only because she was the topper of the class but also because she had read all his books and could easily refer to any of his brave expeditions to distract him if the need arose.

Once they were successful in getting the signed note, they started reading the theory about Polyjuice Potion. It was certainly a very difficult potion and Ayesha, who was the best in Potions, took the responsibility to brew it. They decided to start the brewing on coming Saturday after the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Harry was coming back from yet another Quidditch practice. Wood was making them practice harder and longer than usual because the whole Slytherin team had got new Nimbus 2001 models, thanks to Draco's father. Harry decided to go straight to the Great Hall; he didn't want to miss his dinner.

The whole castle was deserted; everyone was in the Great Hall for their dinner. It was all quiet, that's why Harry was startled when he heard a loud 'crack'. Harry stared at the thing that had appeared from nowhere in front of him. The little creature had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. The creature bowed so low that its long nose almost touched the floor.

"Harry Potter!" squealed the creature in a high pitched voice. "So long Dobby has wanted to meet you … it's an honour."

"Er – thanks," replied Harry, nervously, "But who are you?"

"I is Dobby, Sir," replied the creature, "An house-elf."

Harry decided to ask Hermione about house-elfs later; it would be rude to ask Dobby what he was.

"Er – Dobby, is there any particular reason you are here?"

"Yes, Sir," replied Dobby, glancing nervously around. He, then moved closer to Harry, "Dobby is here to warn you, Sir."

"About?" asked Harry, suspiciously.

"Terrible things are about to happen at Hogwarts. Dobby wanted to stop you from coming here. Harry Potter is too precious to lose. But Dobby never found you alone to warn you."

"What is about to happen, Dobby?" asked Harry, curiously.

"Terrible things. There is a plot. Dobby had known for some time. You must go back home and stay there safe."

"Who's plotting them," asked Harry, but he was shocked to see Dobby banging his head on the wall instead of answering him. He had to grab the house-elf to stop him from it.

"Why are you banging your head?"

"Dobby has to punish himself whenever he does or says what he is not supposed to."

There were faint noises; maybe dinner is over, thought Harry. Dobby also seemed to think along the similar lines.

"Go back, Sir," he whispered urgently, "You must go back and be safe."

Before Harry could ask him anything, Dobby vanished with a loud 'crack'. Harry stared at the spot where Dobby had stood a moment back. Just then he saw students heading back to their common rooms. Harry spotted Harry, Hermione, Ayesha and Dudley and ran to them. He quickly led them to an unused classroom.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"You heard the voice again?" asked Dudley.

"No, No," answered Harry, restlessly, "nothing of the sorts."

"Thank God," said Ayesha. She handed Harry a paper bag. "We thought you got late practising, so we brought you food."

Harry took the bag and immediately narrated them what had happened moments before. He also asked them what house-elf was, to which Ron gave him a long answer explaining house-elfs, their magical bond with the families they served, how they could be freed, etc.

"But how did it vanish?" asked Dudley.

"Must have apparated," suggested Ron.

"You can't apparate in and out of Hogwarts," said Hermione.

"House-elfs can," said Ayesha, "Their magic is different than wizards and witches. They can apparate in and out of places which have anti-apparition wards."

"What dangers he could be talking about?" asked Hermione, thinking.

"Of course, Chambers of Secrets," said Ron.

"First, Harry hears a voice, then a cat is petrified and then Dobby warns him off of the dangers in the castle," said Dudley, darkly, "This is spooky."

Everyone nodded.

"Let's go and sleep peacefully," said Hermione, sounding uncertain about a peaceful sleep, "We have a busy day tomorrow … first the match and then the potion."