Sorry for the longer wait. The end of this chapter took a while, even if I was in a good mood and wrote a lot. Honestly though I finished the first half within a day and the rest took me forever. But there are only one or two chapters in Chamber of Secrets anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Obviously not since I'm not that gifted.
Enjoy!
Updated: 23/6/2014
Chapter Sixteen- Breathe
Later that night, after sitting and staring into the crackling fire without a word, none of the fourth year girls could get to sleep. Grace lay awake for hours in their deathly quiet dormitory, just staring at the roof of her four poster bed. Inside her head whirled thoughts of Trina and Hermione. She could barely imagine how Oliver was feeling. He had left the common room directly after Professor McGonagall had made her announcement; his face just as devastated as it had been when they had entered the hospital wing.
It was around 1 in the morning that Grace heard it. Across the room from her someone could be heard sniffing away tears but trying to cover up the sound.
"Hannah?" Grace guessed, peering through the gap in her curtains. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," Hannah choked out, breaking the silence after a few minutes.
"I don't think any of us can sleep, Hannah," Lara's voice hovered through the air.
"Lumos," Grace whispered; pulling her wand out from her pillow and crawling out of her blankets with it clutched tightly in her hand to tear open the curtains around her bed.
"I may have had a few cups of highly sugared hot cocoa before bed so I didn't get to sleep," Miranda said. It was evident that she hadn't even bothered from the glasses still on her face. "I thought it would make me feel better but no."
"I just can't believe it," Hannah said softly, her voice still raw from crying. "I thought we were finally safe and there wouldn't be any more attacks."
A rustling of blankets and light footsteps could be heard as Lara tiptoed over to Hannah's bed to hug her.
"I feel like it's my fault," Lara admitted. "She said she was fine going to the library alone but I should have insisted she stay or that I go with her. I didn't even think that much of it when she was late."
"It's nobody's fault," Grace assured her. "Everybody has had their guard down for weeks. We could never have suspected."
None of them had the courage to say anything else without breaking until Ciara sat up in bed, gasping Trina's name and looking around with wide eyes.
"Are you alright Ciara?" Miranda asked.
"Just woke up from a dream," Ciara groaned.
"At least one of us slept," Lara commented, making light of the situation and brining glad smiles to Hannah and Grace's faces.
"It was a nightmare," Ciara objected. The smiles faded instantly.
"Is there any room left in that cuddle?" Grace asked warily.
"Come and join," Hannah invited.
Grace used her wand to light the way around the mess covering the dormitory floor. She felt a sharp pang of sadness when she passed Trina's unmade bed. Once she reached Hannah's bed, Lara shifted over to make room on the bed. Gradually they were joined by Ciara and Miranda. In that single bed, with their arms wrapped around each other, they could almost feel like everything was alright. If only the empty space in their hug was filled by Trina.
"She'll be back soon," Miranda murmured as much to comfort herself as the others.
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When the sun rose over them the next morning, all of the girls were still on Hannah's bed. Well, mostly. Miranda seemed to have rolled off the bed and now lay sprawled on the floor. Grace yawned. It took a while to remove herself from the bed as her legs had tangled themselves around Ciara and Hannah's during the night.
Once dressed and down in the Great Hall, Grace immediately sought out Ron and Harry. Last night she was still in too much shock over the attack to ask about the voice and Hermione but right now she was determined to get the answers she had wanted for a while.
"How are you two going?" she greeted.
"Absolutely dandy," Ron muttered.
"Harry, I wanted to ask you," Grace started cautiously. "Did you hear the voice yesterday?"
"Yeah, that's when Hermione ran off to the library," Harry said bitterly. His mouth stretched wide in a huge yawn.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Grace supposed, reaching for a mug of hot milk.
"Only after going to Hagrid's," Harry replied without thinking.
Grace paused for a moment with her mouth open and a plate of waffles hovering in mid-air to consider her brother's stupidity. The last attacks had only happened last night, and to one of his best friends as well, yet he went against Professor McGonagall's new rules to visit Hagrid. What could be that important?
"Why exactly did you think it was safe to go out at night?" she questioned through gritted teeth.
"We thought he might be involved," Ron answered, sharing a look with Harry.
Grace raised her eyebrows as an invitation for one of them to explain.
"I found this diary in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Harry confessed then went on to divulge about how he had discovered the diary's secret, what had happened inside the diary and how they went to see Hagrid. "He said that if we wanted to know stuff we had to follow the spiders."
"Why did it have to be spiders?" Ron grumbled.
"Just because Hagrid wanted to scare you," Grace told him, using sarcasm to cover her fear of Dumbledore leaving the school. "Of course you two are planning to follow these spiders, wherever they go. Alone. Which is why I should come with you."
Ron and Harry exchanged another one of those looks that said so much by so little.
"Are you going to tell a teacher?" Ron asked, clearly mistrustful of anyone joining in on their investigation. Grace could understand though; if anyone tried to take Trina's place at the moment then she would feel the same.
"Now why would I do that and make it safe for you?" Grace wondered with a comical frown.
"I can tell why you're friends with Fred and George," Ron said under his breath. Grace heard the comment and made a small grimace.
"Just tell me when you're going after the spiders," Grace shook her head at how a conversation about the attacks had turned into Ron comparing her to Fred and George. "And I'll look out for them as well."
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It was hard to enjoy the spreading summer when Trina wasn't there with them. Normally they would spend the time together in the sun, testing each other for the exams or splashing around in the shallows of the lake with the boys. Instead Grace just sat alone with her feet dangling in the icy cool water. There wasn't even any Hagrid to emerge out of the trees and cheer her up.
"Hey Gracie darl," Fred greeted as he and George strolled down the grassy grounds to sit on either side of her.
"Thought you didn't want anybody walking round alone," George said. He and Fred started to remove their own shoes and socks to dip their feet in the water.
"Nothing's dangerous for good old Gracie here," Fred joked, splashing her legs.
"Do as I say, not as I do," Grace recited.
"Of course, we forgot that you were the wisest one of us all," George shook his head.
"We bow down to your great advice," Fred mocked, placing a hand on his heart.
"O mighty heiress," George winked.
"Oh shush," Grace laughed, moving down to cup water in her hands and flinging it up into Fred and George's faces. She smirked up at their spluttering faces until they looked at each other with that mischievous gleam in their eyes. Both of them grabbed her arms and pushed her into the water.
"Even you can't mess with the masters," Fred chuckled.
Once he was sure that Grace's robes and hair were truly drenched, George pulled her out of the water and into his warm, strong arms. She was still scowling at them when she asked her next question.
"How's Oliver?"
"Went for a fly around the pitch," Fred answered, squinting off into the setting sun. "Madam Pompfrey wouldn't let him in to see Trina. Flying's the only other thing he could do to make him feel better."
"Madam Pompfrey's just worried," Grace sighed. "Nobody has any idea of what's going on so she doesn't want to risk whatever it is get back in there for another go. I'm barely allowed in."
"Probably better there than everyone else though," George pointed out. "Since Dumbledore left everyone's been acting like you without chocolate but a million times worse."
Grace chuckled.
"Say one wrong word and someone might start crying or accuse you of being insensitive," Fred added. "George and I don't even know who we're going offend anymore."
"I don't like all the crying. It makes me want to cry," Grace said. George's arms tightened around her at the slight catch in her voice.
"Now that's just redundant," Fred remarked.
"Wow I'm surprised you know such a big word," Grace teased.
"Do you want to go for a swim again?" Fred asked. He splashed his feet around in the water and flicked some up at Grace.
"Nuh uh I'm not letting her go," George objected.
Grace laughed and rolled her eyes at him as she said, "It's almost six. We should probably head back up."
George helped Grace to her feet, like the surprising gentle man he was. Grace walked in between the twins, holding her shoes in her hands, as Fred and George each had an arm over her shoulders. They barely got up to the common room in time before teachers started to appear for their nightly patrols around the castle. Right as Grace walked through the portrait hole, Harry and Ron approached her; the urgency in their strides hard to hide.
"We found the spiders," Harry told her, making sure that Fred and George didn't hear. "They're going into the Forbidden Forest."
"So we're going tonight?" Grace confirmed.
"I'll get the invisibility cloak later."
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It was well past midnight when Grace, Ron and Harry finally managed to leave. Fred and George had challenged Harry and Ron to a game of Exploding Snap. Grace sat huddled at Ginny's feet, watching the games but subtly keeping an eye on her dorm-mates. The four girls were in the corner of the common room closest to them, each struggling to read something in front of them, whether a magazine or revision though they seemed to be looking more at Trina's empty chair than anything else. Miranda was the first to head up to bed, strangely early for her at nine' o'clock. Grace ended up dozing off at quarter to eleven; her head lolling off onto George's shoulder.
Grace was still yawning under the cloak when they were creeping out of the portrait hole. Harry threw her worried glances even though Grace was alert a few steps away from Gryffindor Tower. There was no way they would get out of the castle if she wasn't.
"Course," said Ron all of a sudden once they were out onto the moonlight grounds, "we might get to the forest and find there's nothing to follow. Those spiders might not've been going there at all. I know it looked like they were moving in that sort of general direction, but..."
They reached Hagrid's lonely looking house and entered quickly. Upon the sight of them Fang went mad. Grace grabbed some treacle fudge and stuffed it towards him before his booming barks could wake the whole castle. Even though it glued the dog's teeth together, Grace pulled off a bit for herself.
"C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk," said Harry, encouraging Fang to follow him out the door, where he immediately lifted his leg against a tree.
Harry and Grace lit up their wands to search the forest ground for spiders, going without the help of Ron's temperamental wand. Finally their wands fell upon two spiders scurrying alone towards the dark trees. Grace's eyes met Harry's, confirming that they were going to go after those two tiny things. All this time she had still been holding out on the hope that there would be nothing out here.
Grace gulped as Harry turned and informed Ron. She was not looking forward to this.
"Okay," Ron sighed in defeat, "I'm ready. Let's go."
Grace stayed silent in the walk through the trees, staying behind Harry and Ron but keeping a steady eye all around them for any signs of danger. She could hear Fang's scampering footsteps up ahead. There was barely another to see once thick trees blocked out the brightly shining stars. Twenty minutes into their trip, Harry and Ron stopped in front of her. They were staring at where the spiders left the path to disappear into the unknown.
Grace bit her lip, hard. She hadn't expected to come this deep in the forest. Harry seemed more comfortable than her in here, even more so than Fang, a fact that she was not pleased with. Even so the further they went into the forest the more dangerous it would be.
"What d'you reckon?" Harry asked.
At that moment, when Harry turned to face her and Ron, his wandlight shone directly into Grace's eyes. It reminded her of the light that sparkled in Trina's eyes when she laughed. It occurred to Grace that there was a reason she was out here in dark looking for spiders.
"Keep going," Grace confirmed. "Can't turn back now."
So they kept going. If she didn't have her wand pointing in front of her Grace would have been blind. She could feel her robes tearing and branches ripped into her skin. More than once, she walked into Ron when he stopped suddenly. It seemed like they had been walking for a terrifying half an hour, the ground started to slope down beneath their feet, when Fang let out a hollow, echoing bark. Grace jumped into the air, clutching her wand tight.
"What?" Ron said loudly. Grace wished he would be quieter.
"There's something moving over there," Harry breathed. "Listen... Sounds like something big... "
They listened. Branches snapped in the distance, loud in the noiseless forest. Ignoring Harry and Ron bickering, Grace ran through every spell she could think of that would possibly help them in this situation. Stupefy, Impedimenta, Reducto.
There was an unusual rumbling, like a deep throttle then nothing.
"Is it still there?" Grace whispered.
"Dunno," Ron answered. "Probably getting ready to pounce."
Then, on their right, a bright light burned their eyes, making Grace squint and blink. Fang yelped in fright and jumped back, only to land in a bed of thorns and yelp more.
"Harry!" Ron shouted, his voice breaking with relief "Harry, it's our car!"
"What?" Harry and Grace said together.
"C'mon!"
Grace tripped over in her haste to follow Ron and emerge into a clearing. A turquoise blue Ford Angelia was sitting in the middle of the forest, the same one Grace remembered from their trip to the burrow, its headlights blinding anyone who stood in front of it.
Grace's mouth fell open. Ron was moving towards the car and it moved back towards him.
"So this is how you got to school," Grace finally said.
"It's been here all along," Ron declared happily. "The forest's turned it wild."
Grace could see the proof of that in the mud and scratches along the side. Mr Weasley certainly wouldn't approve.
"And you thought it would attack us," Grace laughed, the fear that had possessed her seconds again seeping away.
"I wondered where it had gone!" Ron exclaimed.
"We've lost the trail," Harry spoke up. "C'mon, let's go and find them."
Grace swung her head around, still grinning to face Harry when she saw it. The grin froze on her face. A giant, ten-foot spider stood behind Harry, clicking its shiny black pincers menacingly. There was barely any time to raise her wand before another spider came her from behind. She let out a little, almost inaudible squeak at her feet being swept from underneath her. There was no way to move when it held her so painfully tight. Her eyes strained to see how far they were going into the forest.
Somehow her throat unblocked and she managed to get some words out, "Hold on. It'll be alright."
Not long after the words had escaped her mouth, she began to see clearly again. That wasn't a good thing as the ground crawled with thousands of tiny spiders. Grace cracked her neck to be able to see more than just the ground and what she saw was even worse.
They were moving into a deep hollow in the ground, clear of trees and lit up by the moonlight to show all of the spiders that smothered the ground. Not just any spiders either. No these spiders were larger than horses with their eight shiny eyes, eight hairy legs and immense bodies. In the centre of the hollow was a web spreading into a domed shape. This was where the spider drop Grace onto her head. She bounced back up as fast as she could while Harry, Ron and Fang got dropped to the ground.
Moving hesitantly Grace edged closer to Harry. She kept her wand to the ground; not sure at that moment whether she should use it or not. She reached out to help Harry off the ground, listening to the repeating clicks of the spiders surrounding them. It almost sounded like words.
"Aragog!" it called. "Aragog!"
Out of the hollow rose the largest spider of all, possibly the size of an elephant. There was one grey patch on its expansive back. Each one of the tiny eyes on its hairy head was the milky colour of blindness.
"What is it?" he said, clicking his pincers with every word.
"Men," clicked the spider who had caught Harry.
"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, his long legs bringing him closer.
"Strangers," clicked the spider who had brought Ron.
"Kill them," clicked Aragog fretfully. "I was sleeping... "
"No!" Grace shouted, jumping forward. "We're friends of Hagrid's. He's in trouble."
Maybe there was something wrong with her ears but Grace swore she could hear her heart pumping.
"But why has he sent you?"
That was where Harry took over. He spoke in the calmest and most level voice Grace had heard.
"They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a-a-something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban."
Aragog clicked his pincers furiously. The sound was echoed angrily around the hollow by each of the spiders, like a deafening, sickening applause.
"But that was years ago," said Aragog nervously. "Years and years ago. I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free."
"So you- you didn't come from the chamber?" Grace asked, not sure whether it was even the right thing to say.
"I!" said Aragog, clicking once again. "I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveller gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, feeding me on scraps from the table. Hagrid is my good friend, and a good man. When I was discovered, and blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here in the forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through Hagrid's goodness... "
"So you've never attacked anyone?" Grace pressed, summoning all of her courage for the question.
"Never," croaked the old spider, almost offended. "It would have been my instinct, but out of respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the girl who was killed was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind like the dark and the quiet..."
"But then... Do you know what did kill that girl?" said Harry, carefully. "Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again-"
Something that he had said disturbed the spiders even more. They rustled and clicking in a sea of black.
"The thing that lives in the castle," said Aragog. "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. Well do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go, when I sensed the beast moving about the school."
"What is it?" Harry asked urgently. Grace started to fear for his safety. His every word seemed to anger the spiders more. They were coming closer, closing in.
"We do not speak of it!" said Aragog fiercely. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dread creature, though he asked me, many times."
Harry opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask more but Grace shook her head slightly to stop him. Aragog seemed to have tired from the short talk they'd had. They didn't want to anger him further when there were already so many spiders around them.
"We'll just go but thanks for your help," Grace called after Aragog who was moving backwards into his hollow.
"Go?" said Aragog slowly. "I think not ... My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye, friends of Hagrid."
Grace raised her wand to face the wall of spiders that was descending on them. She knew a couple of spells that could help but none of them would take out that many spiders. Maybe if there were more people here but Harry and Ron didn't know half of the spells that she had learnt. Grace thought the long, low note she heard was a last desperate war cry inside her head until she saw Mr Weasley's car barrelling its way through the spider, knocking many of them into the air as it went.
Grace seized the back of Harry's shirt and close to pushed him into the front of the car and fell into the back herself.
"Grab Fang!" Harry yelled at Ron. He yelping boarhound was thrown into the back with Grace, slobbering all over her. The car started without any of their help, hitting even more spiders on the way. Speeding up the slope and away from the spiders, Grace collapsed into the backseat, glad that was finally over. Even though they were weaving their way far from spiders, Ron's mouth was still wide open. At least his eyes weren't popping anymore. "Are you okay?"
There was no reply. Ron just stared straight ahead. Grace closed her eyes to the sounds of branches and even side mirrors snapping off. Finally after ten very bumpy minutes the car hurtled out the forest. It stopped with a sudden jolt that made Grace bang her head against the door which she shortly opened and stumbled out of, with Fang close on her heels. The dog streaked off into Hagrid's hut, not even one wag in his tail. Grace walked after him on weak knees. She made sure to fill his bowl with some more food and water as Harry collected the invisibility cloak.
Ron was just wiping his mouth after being quite sick when they came out. "Follow the spiders. I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."
"I doubt he thought that Aragog would actually hurt us though," Grace pointed out, leaning against the cabin wall.
"That's exactly Hagrid's problem!" said Ron, thumping the wall of the cabin and making Grace leap away from it. "He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!"
He started to shake from being sick but still continued.
"What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"
"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said. "He was innocent."
Oh my gosh that took ages. Thank you for reading. Please review with any comments, questions or advice.