The first few weeks of second year made it very clear that it wouldn't be as easy as first year had been. First year hadn't been a walk in the park, but the work load was already much greater than it had been the previous year and it was a bit of a shock. I enjoyed almost all of my classes, finding everything interesting, but I couldn't stand the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, professor Lockhart. Most of the girls fancied him, but I found him to be annoying and not very good at teaching us anything.
I had been sitting with Hermione and working on the most recent essay Lockhart had assigned about himself when Ron came and sat with us. He had given me a weary look as he sat down, but when I didn't say anything to him he seemed to relax.
"That can't be good." Ron muttered, pulling our attention from the work in front of us and towards where the Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch teams were facing off. We walked over to try and figure out what was going on, Hermione and Ron going to stand beside the Gryffindor team while I stood just beside the Slytherin team, and listened as Oliver Wood read out the note from Professor Snape that Marcus Flint had given to him.
"You've got a new Seeker? Who?"
The Slytherin team parted and Draco stepped forward, a smug smirk on his face when he saw the shock from the whole Gryffindor team. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, knowing that their reactions would give Draco even more of an inflated ego than he already had. Draco had been bragging about how he was part of the Slytherin team and how his father had bought all of them new brooms from the moment we got back to Hogwarts. Everyone had stopped caring about it after the third or fourth time he mentioned that he was part of the team, well, everyone but Pansy, so I could tell he was enjoying finally getting a reaction again.
"Malfoy?" Harry laughed.
"That's right, and that's not all that's new this year." Draco shifted his broom to show off the new equipment that the team had been given. All of the Gryffindor team had gasped and Ron's mouth fell open. "You see Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best."
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in, they got in on pure talent." Hermione shot at Draco, a smug look on her face. Even though she was right, I knew she should have just kept her mouth shut. Draco didn't like it when people challenged him in anyway, and Hermione doing it in front of the elder Slytherins would just make Draco more upset.
His eyes seemed to turn a dark grey as he took a step towards Hermione and scowled at her. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."
After hearing the word constantly said with ease in the Slytherin common room, I hardly even blinked at the use of the slur. The word used to make me cringe every time I heard it because there was still a possibility that I could still be a Muggle-born, but I had grown used to it over time. Hermione, on the other hand, clearly wasn't used to hearing it and Her face fell right away. She looked at me right away as if waiting for me to come to her rescue, but there was nothing I could do in the presence of my Housemates. The word meant nothing to me anyway, so I figured that Hermione would just be able to brush it off as well.
Ron, stupidly trying to come to Hermione's rescue for no reason, attempted to hex Draco with a spell that would make him vomit slugs, but his spell backfired, and he hit himself. He immediately dropped to the ground and started to vomit up slugs, causing the Slytherin team to laugh and even earning a little chuckle from me despite my disgust. Harry and Hermione quickly helped Ron up and practically carried him away, the rest of the Gryffindor team heading back to the castle right after them.
"What were you doing with them?" Draco turned to me, giving me an odd look. I could tell he wasn't happy that I spent any time with the Gryffindors at all, but it really wasn't his place to tell me what to do.
"Studying." I answered simply. "Is that a problem?" I challenged him, raising an eyebrow.
He narrowed his eyes at me. "No, I just don't understand why you would choose to waste your time with a Mudblood and a Weasley."
"I can only stand so much time around Pansy, and she has been carrying on all afternoon about Lockhart." I shifted my books in my arms and glanced at the rest of the Slytherin team that was continuing on towards the Quidditch field. "You're getting left behind. I'll see you at dinner."
With that, I turned and made my way back towards the castle. I walked directly towards the dungeons to the Common Room where I found Daphne and Pansy sitting on one of the couches. I sat with my friends and listened as Pansy was still going on about how handsome she thought Lockhart was all the way until it was almost dinner time. Draco came in with the rest of the Slytherin team once their practice was finished and Pansy couldn't stop giggling as he walked by, not at all being subtle.
"How was practice, Draco?" I asked him once we made our way to the Great Hall for dinner.
Draco looked tired, but he put on a smug grin and sat up a little straighter. "It was fine. Flint said that I was an excellent flier, maybe even better than the last Seeker they had."
Daphne and I shared a look, neither of us really believing that Draco was saying the full truth, but Pansy seemed to be hanging on to every word that came out of Draco's mouth. He went into great detail about the practice and how challenging it was supposed to be, but how he had found it quite easy given his natural talent.
"Potter is missing." Daphne interrupted Draco's ongoing monologue and pointed towards the Gryffindor table.
Sure enough, Harry was missing from his usual spot between Ron and Hermione, both of which looked concerned.
"I wonder where he could be that Ron and Hermione look confused." I mused.
"Probably off doing something that he thinks will earn him another fifty points from Dumbledore."
No one said anything else about the subject and we all finished our meal. As we were making our way through the corridors back to the dungeons, everyone seemed to stop suddenly and gather at a corner.
"What's going on?" I asked, trying to push my ways towards the front of the crowd with Draco and Daphne right behind me. The sight in front of me made me stop in my tracks and let out a loud gasp.
On the wall in front of us was the words, 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware' written in what looked like blood. Hanging from her tail completely still was Mrs. Norris, Filches cat, almost as if she was dead. I spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione stood closest to the wall and I couldn't help but wonder why they were there before all of us.
"Enemies of the heir beware?" Draco read out the line from the wall, quickly turning and glaring at Hermione. "You'll be next, Mudbloods."
I couldn't help but glance at Daphne who gave me a weary look. The sound of Dumbledore coming towards us caused all of us to separate, allowing him and Professor McGonagall through to see the scene in front of us.
"Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately." Dumbledore announced, causing everyone to turn and start to walk away. "Everyone except you three." His additional statement made us all look back and see him pointing at the three Gryffindors that had been there from the beginning.
All of the Slytherin students were speaking quietly amongst themselves as we made our way back to the Common Room. I quickly pulled Daphne into our dormitory when I saw Pansy and Millicent take a seat in the corner of the main area along with the boys.
"What did Draco mean when he said Mudbloods would be next?" I asked my blonde friend the second we were sat on her bed. "What's the Chamber of Secrets?"
Daphne sighed. "Years ago, there was a time in the school where kids were getting petrified by something, and one girl ended up dying. No one knew what was causing the attacks, but I'm assuming that it had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets. All of the kids who were attacked were Mudbloods."
"So that means…"
"You're going to be fine, Ana. You're in Slytherin, you won't get hurt." Daphne assured me. Despite my friend's efforts to make me feel safe, I was still worried that I would be the next one to get attacked and my secret would be outed to all of my friends. "Come on, let's go back before they suspect something."
I followed Daphne back to the main area and sat with our friends, trying my best to listen to what they were talking about but found it hard to focus on anything other than my fears.