Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm not really proud of this chapter but I hope you enjoy it anyway. I'm so sorry. Also school just started so my updating may become even slower.
Disclaimer: Recongnisable content comes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Duelling Club. I don't own anything but Grace and her friends.
Updated: 17/5/2014
Chapter Twelve- Scream
Grace didn't get much sleep after that. Her mind was running at a million miles per hour, considering all the different scenarios if the Chamber of Secrets was open. Every time her eyes started to weigh down she saw Harry, his face pale and eyes closed, in a hospital wing bed. Only this time she wasn't in her dormitory bed having a nightmare.
As the first rays of light poured through the open window next to Harry's bed, Grace decided that there was no point trying to sleep anymore. She stretched her arms and legs, working out the tough cricks in her neck. Figuring that Madam Pompfrey wouldn't be up for another half hour at least Grace wrapped a cardigan around her shoulders and moved silently towards the door. Someone had to get breakfast for the patients, in this case, Harry.
Fifteen minutes later Grace returned from the kitchens, arms laden with a specially made pot of hot porridge. On her way past Grace couldn't help peering through the curtains of Colin's bed. Movement could be heard in Madam Pompfrey's office but it wasn't like she would stay in there for too long.
Moving the curtains aside, Grace surveyed the boy in the bed. He looked just as he had last night but his expression of fear was even more shocking in the daylight. Colin's camera sat beside him, almost as if it was a loved teddy bear keeping him company.
At the sound of footsteps Grace moved away from Colin's hidden bed, walking back towards Harry's bed.
"Good morning, Ms Potter," Madam Pompfrey greeted surprisingly cheery after last night.
"Good morning, ma'am," Grace smiled. "I brought up a fresh batch of porridge from the kitchens if you want any."
"Thank you Grace, dear, you really are a sweetie," Madam Pompfrey said. "I take it you slept well for the first half of your night?"
"What are you talking about?" Grace questioned, feigning innocence. "I slept well the entire night. Just like a baby."
"Hmmm," Madam Pompfrey didn't look like she was buying a word coming from Grace's mouth. "In that case I won't have to remind you not to spread what you saw around the school, no matter how inevitable it is that everyone will be terrified by lunch."
Grace grimaced slightly, marvelling at how well the nurse knew her.
"Grace?" came Harry's voice from the bed. He reached over to put his glasses on and sat up in bed.
"Good morning, Harry!" Grace smiled. "How does your arm feel?"
"Better. I think I can move my fingers now."
"I'll be the judge of that," Madam Pompfrey swooped in to begin testing his fingers and arm.
"Do you want some porridge Harry?" Grace asked. Harry nodded.
Grace filled two bowls with steaming hot porridge. By the time she had covered them in the right amount of sugar and honey Madam Pompfrey had finished her tests.
"All in order. When you have finished eating you may leave."
"Here," Grace passed over one bowl, keeping the other for herself. "So how much of last night did you see?"
"Enough," Harry grimaced. "Right after Dobby arrived to warn me again. He was the one who stopped the barrier at Platform Nine and Three Quarters and charmed the Bludger."
"Remind me again how he's trying to keep you safe?" Grace questioned. "Besides when was he even here?"
In between clumsily feeding himself spoonfuls of porridge Harry told her about his little visit from Dobby. It finally made sense who he was trying to strangle when Grace woke up.
"I can't believe I slept through that," Grace shook her head. "He's not exactly helping though. Knowing you it just makes you want to solve the Chamber of Secrets mystery more."
"Whatever the monster is wants to kill Muggle-borns. You expect me to just let it do that?"
"No! I just don't want you to get hurt, or petrified. Speaking of which, you didn't happen to hear anything else last night?"
"Nothing."
"We don't actually know for sure that the voice is related to the attacks."
"Grace, it wanted to tear and kill."
"Yeah," Grace sighed. "Nobody's been killed yet though so I'm just holding onto that hope."
"Me too."
"I should go," Grace said. "I want to tell my friends what happened before word somehow gets around. Then after that, I've got an essay to write."
"Have fun," Harry almost laughed. "I should talk to Ron and Hermione."
"See you later," Grace waved as she walked out of the hospital wing.
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Grace found her friends lounging on cushions in an abandoned classroom, surrounded by books, after grabbing her bag from her dormitory.
"Good morning, my lovelies."
"Hey Grace, how's Harry?" Lara asked, looking up from her transfiguration book.
"Oh he's fine. It's Colin Creevey you should be worried about."
"Who?" Trina frowned, pausing in the middle of her essay.
"The latest victim of the attacks," Grace answered, pulling her own homework out. At the quizzical looks from all of her friends she explained what had happened last night, starting with what she had heard about Dobby to Dumbledore's ominous announcement.
"Oh wow," Ciara said, her eyes wide. "Now that Dumbledore has said it the Chamber must really be open."
"Am I the only one who's absolutely terrified by this?" Hannah asked.
"We all are," Miranda said. "Even a house elf says it's bad so it's gotta be really bad. As selfish as it is, I feel a whole lot safer being Pureblood."
Ciara, Hannah, Grace and Miranda turned to stare at Lara and Trina, fear etched upon their faces.
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Even though Grace didn't tell another soul, word somehow got out about Colin. Rumours swam around the school, ranging from what Colin was doing there to the monster hiding in Colin right now. As it was people were scared. Nobody but the most courageous seventh years moved around the corridors alone.
Grace and her friends were scared out of their wits, and took it very seriously, but it didn't help when Fred and George walked around like it was some joke. The outcome was worst for Ginny, who was Colin's Charms partner, when they started to play jokes on her. They would take turns covering themselves in fur or boils and jump out from behind statues. Percy went red with rage, threatening them with detention and letters to their mother. In the end the only thing that stopped the twins was Grace, Ciara and Trina getting mad at them.
Some students sought to take advantage of the current state of the student body, running undercover sales of 'protective' devices. There were amulets, talismans, potions and charms. Grace and Lara caught Trina trying to buy a purple necklace that gave off noxious fumes.
"None of this stuff actually works. You're a lying scumbag whose greedy for people's gold and should stop before I tell Professor McGonagall," Lara exploded at the sixth year who was demonstrating the necklace. After the annoyed boy ran away, Lara turned to Trina. "All they want is your money which they're going to get soon because you're so scared!"
"That necklace would just make you smell bad, Trina," Grace pointed out. "Besides don't you think Oliver would protect you?"
"Him and the rest of us," Lara added. "We'd never let anyone hurt you. I promise."
Trina stared back at them, giving them a small smile and nodded. Lara wrapped her arms around Trina and pulled Grace into their hug, who held them both tightly.
"It'll be okay," she whispered.
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Later in the week, Professor McGonagall came round to collect the names of those staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas break.
"My mum and dad are going to visit family for Christmas so George and I are staying," Miranda explained while they walked out of the Great Hall. "They gave me a choice but I really prefer to stay here. The food's better anyway."
"I'm staying as well," Hannah added. "My parents are coming to Hogsmeade with my sister so Nick and I will just meet them there."
"It's my first Christmas staying at Hogwarts," Ciara said. "What's it like anyway?"
"Oh gosh, amazing," Grace gushed. "The house elves out do themselves with dinner and lunch and they put this giant tree in the dormitory that fills up with presents overnight and nobody else is usually there so you can do whatever you want, like the grounds are practically empty so you can have huge snowball fights without running into somebody else. Just don't throw one at Fred or George cuz they're expert snowball fighters."
"Sounds pretty good."
"What's that crowd looking at?" Lara asked, pointing to the noticeboard.
Delicately manoeuvring her way out of the crowd, Trina came towards them, tugging Oliver along behind them.
"They're starting a duelling club!" Trina informed them excitedly. "The first meeting is tonight."
"We should go!" Grace said, smiling around at her friends. "It could be fun. And besides we all need to know how to defend ourselves."
"Do we have to?" Miranda groaned. "What's the point?"
'Well there's a dangerous attacker on the loose; it might be a good idea to be able to defend ourselves," Lara pointed out. "Does it say who the teacher is?"
"Nah, just that they're an accomplished dueller," Trina said.
"Probably Flitwick then," Ciara shrugged.
"Let's hope so," Grace said as they started their climb back to the common room.
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That night Grace, Ciara and Miranda walked down to the Great Hall together. They weren't sure what to expect but certainly not the crowd packed in front of a golden stage that had appeared along one wall. Everyone's excited faces were lit by thousands of candles that floated before the black ceiling.
"It looks more like a concert than a duelling club," Miranda muttered.
"Well I guess we'll just have to see who the starring act is," Grace smirked.
"You make it sound like-," Ciara started but paused when someone moved onto the stage behind Grace and Miranda. "Him."
Sweeping onto the stage was none other than Gilderoy Lockhart, struggling to be magnificent in plum purple, closely followed by an unenthusiastic Snape. He waved an arm to get everyone's attention.
"Gather round, gather round. Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"
"Not really!" Grace whispered. Her excitement had diminished immediately at the sight of Lockhart and Snape.
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Duelling Club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions-for full details, see my published works."
"Are we sure you actually did those things though?" Ciara frowned up at Lockhart. Luckily her comment was unheard by the famous teacher.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry-you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Yeah, I don't really think that makes us worried," Grace said.
"We'd be more worried if you didn't finish each other off," Miranda added.
Snape's upper lip started to curl. Grace almost laughed at Lockhart's confidence in going against the Potions master.
They turned to face each other and bowed. At least they did what they were known for; Lockhart being over-the-top and Snape being sullen. Once Lockhart was finished they raised their wands to point at each other.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"Damn," Miranda clicked her fingers.
"One-two-three."
Both of them swung their wands up, over their heads. Snape shouted, "Expelliarmus!" A bright flash of scarlet came from the end of his wand, shooting straight at Lockhart. He was blasted off the stage to land heavily against the wall and sprawl on the floor.
Ciara, Miranda and Grace stood for a second, absolutely speechless. The delight slowly came over their faces until they were cheering along with the Slytherins.
Lockhart stumbled to his feet. From Grace's experience she could tell he had a concussion.
"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm-as you see, I've lost my wand-ah, thank you, Miss Brown-yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy-however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see... "
"You know I bet that he wouldn't have been able to stop Snape at all," Ciara wondered aloud. "Maybe it's just me but if I was going up against Snape-of all people- I would try to defend myself. Now either Lockhart was too cowardly to defend himself or he couldn't. I don't like either option."
"Oh no, they're putting as into pairs," Miranda groaned. "It's going to be like our first Defence lesson all over again."
"Ahh but this time we have Snape here so it will be all the more terrible," Grace said.
"Should we leave?" Ciara asked hesitantly. "I mean, it's not like we're going to learn anything."
"We could always ask Lara and Hannah what happened afterwards," Grace suggested half-heartedly.
"Quickly before Snape comes over here," Miranda said, pushing Grace slightly in the arm.
Ducking between the nervous students, the trio swiftly made their way out of the Great Hall, somehow managing to be unseen by Professor Lockhart and Professor Snape. Shouts and yells came from the Hall just as they were racing up the stairs to get away.
"You know, I bet it's chaos in there right now," Grace said once they had stopped running on the third floor.
"I'll be interested to hear how the rest on the meeting went," Ciara said. "I don't see it going well."
"C'mon, Fred and George said they weren't going to go tonight," Miranda said. "We can just sit with them for the rest of the night."
"Better than what was going on back there," Grace commented.
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Not much later that night, Grace, Miranda and Ciara were sitting in front of the fireplace with Fred, George, Jesse and Lee. The boys had been doing nothing when they came back from the Duelling Club and laughed raucously when they heard about Lockhart being disarmed. In the end they had decided to put off the homework they had, encouraged by Fred and George, to play a fierce group game of Exploding Snap.
"Snap!" Grace slammed her hand down the pile, just a second before George's hand slapped the back of hers. "Back off, Weasley, I got there first."
"Make me, Potter," George raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? You gonna play it that way?"
"Guys guys guys!" Lara barged her way through the stream of people coming in the portrait hole to end up in front of them. "You will never believe what just happened!"
"Try me. I've heard some pretty wild things," Fred stretched his arms above his head.
"Harry just spoke to a snake!" Lara exclaimed.
Grace paused in the middle of fighting over the cards with George. "Come again?"
"You might want to explain it from the start," Trina suggested as she, Oliver and Hannah walked over.
Having captured their attention Lara started her story of how Harry and Malfoy were chosen to demonstrate duelling on stage, Malfoy had broken the rules and conjured a snake, Lockhart failed to step in and Harry had taken action by talking to the snake in another language.
"Well I know that's weird and all but why is it such a big deal?" Grace shrugged. "I mean he's done it before, by accident, so it's just something that he can do."
"Don't you realise?" Lara questioned, at which point Grace shook her head. "Slytherin's symbol was a snake! It's what he was most famous for; being a Parseltongue! The ability is really rare though so it's usually passed down through blood!"
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Grace frowned, not fully comprehending the looks of shock on her friends' faces.
"Harry is Slytherin's heir!" Trina almost shouted.
Ten different pairs of eyes locked on Grace, waiting for her reaction. Grace looked around at all of her friends, shocked at how convinced they were of Harry being Slytherin's heir. She opened her mouth to speak and closed it three times, shaking her head, before she finally managed to find the words.
"That's a load of dragon dung!" Grace spluttered. "Of course it's not true!"
"Ahh but if it was true you would deny it, wouldn't you?" Fred nodded, like he was the wisest man in the world.
"You do know that if Harry is descended from Slytherin, I am too?" Grace questioned.
"I didn't think of that," Trina paused. "How much do you know about your parents?"
"I know they were both Gryffindors," Grace said, starting to get annoyed. "Just like Harry and I are. Do you seriously believe this?"
"Of course we don't," Lara spoke up. "But if we weren't us and didn't know you and Harry so well then we would have thought it might be true. I mean, look at the facts; Harry was found next to Mrs Norris and the writing, he almost got detention from Filch the day before, you talk about how much Colin annoys him and he can speak to snakes."
"In case any of you don't remember I was with Harry when Colin was attacked," Grace reminded them. Miranda opened her mouth to say something but Grace cut across. "I didn't petrify Colin! Harry's best friend is a Muggle born; why would he attack them?"
"We know, love, we're sorry," Trina apologized.
"Never fear, Grace, we shall keep your identity a secret," Fred declared, causing Grace to frown at him.
"Now if you'll excuse us, your lovely heiress, we have some business to attend to," George added with a deep bow. Lee and Fred added theirs, complete with sweeping arms, on their way out of the common room.
"I'm heading off to bed now, love, I'll see you in the morning," Oliver lightly kissed Trina goodnight and left the girls by themselves. Instinctively they gathered closer together to continue their conversation in hushed tones.
"Does it really matter if Grace is Slytherin's heir though?" Ciara asked. "It's not like she or Harry are the ones going around attacking people. Personally I think the problem we should be concentrating on is Lockhart."
"I thought we said that we would watch him and only do something if he really worried us," Miranda said.
"Well clearly you all overlooked what he was doing while Harry got attacked by a snake. Nothing!" Ciara explained. "You saw what he was like when Snape disarmed him. I really think that there's something behind all of his so-called success."
'Yes but what are we supposed to do about it?" Lara inquired.
"Confront him!" Ciara suggested loudly.
"Oh yeah that would be a lovely conversation, 'hey, sir, I know you're a terrible teacher and we all hate you but are you a fraud as well?'" Miranda said sarcastically.
"If we approached him with more tact than it might work." Ciara argued.
"No matter how we approach it he still wouldn't tell us anything," Trina said.
"You forget that Grace and I are the most talkative in his class," Miranda added with a smirk.
"Then we get Hannah and Lara to ask!" Ciara cried. "Aren't you the least bit curious?"
"We could always just ask about his books," Hannah proposed.
"Yeah, I don't want to hear that speech," Trina groaned.
"Actually I agree with Ciara," Grace spoke up. Miranda, Lara, Trina and Hannah stared at her. "Confronting him is a good idea but we should get proof first. There's got to be some recording of what his done, that's not just in his books."
A quiet pause came upon the group as they considered what Grace had said.
"You know there's usually a recording of creatures like the ones Lockhart dealt with," Hannah enlightened.
"Right! Tomorrow, after transfiguration, in the library!" Ciara announced. "And now I am off to bed."
The other girls watched as Ciara marched her way across the common room and up the stairs.
"Let's hope all this effort isn't for nothing," Lara commented.
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"Reckon Ciara will let us eat before we go research?" Grace whispered to Miranda.
"It was your idea to do the research on him," Miranda replied, doodling on the edge of her transfiguration book. "But I hope so. I'm hungry too."
"How long do we have left anyway?" Grace asked.
"Potter! Heathridge!" Professor McGonagall scolded from the front of the classroom. "Surely you can go another ten minutes without talking to one another? If it happens again while I am trying to speak both of you will stay after class."
"Sorry Professor," Grace and Miranda mumbled together.
Just as McGonagall was about to begin her explanation of their homework once again, she was interrupted by shouting out in the corridor.
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"
Chairs were shoved to the floor and work abandoned as everyone ran for the door. The scramble through only lasted a few minutes then everyone was through into the steadily filling corridor. A boy in Hufflepuff colours lay on the floor, absolutely frozen, next to a steamy black Nearly Headless Nick. None of the teachers were able to control the panicking students as their shouts and screams echoed around the confined space. Finally everyone shut up when McGonagall created a loud bang from her wand. They were ordered back into their classes.
Grace hung back with Miranda, hovering quietly at the door to their classroom to watch what happened.
Another boy in Hufflepuff colours raced forward, his face pale and breath coming in pants. He pointed a finger dramatically at Harry.
"Caught in the act!" he yelled.
Outrage at her brother's treatment surged through Grace. She stepped back into the corridor, frowning at the younger boy.
"Excuse me? Maybe you're caught in the act of being a pompous brat."
"That will do," Professor McGonagall said sharply. "Ms Potter, you may return to class, just like the rest of your classmates."
Looking down at the ground Grace turned around at walked back into class. Without McGonagall the rest of her classmates had started to riot. She didn't join in though. Her mind was elsewhere. If Harry was innocent, which of course he was, then what was he doing with the latest victim right before they were attacked?
Thank you for reading! Please review with any comments, questions or suggestions. I shall try to get the next chapter up soon.