Enemies of the Heir Beware

When we got back to the castle when Ron's slug problem seemed to cease and then McGonagall said we were going to do our detentions that afternoon. Ron had to polish the trophies in the trophy room with Filch the Muggle way and I got stuck helping Lockhart with his fan mail at his personal request. Joy!

Lockhart had me addressing envelopes for what felt like an eternity. Soon, the candles grew dim and short as I began to doze off from sheer boredom. I'd tried to join Ron in the trophy room, but McGonagall had refused to let me go with him. Lockhart kept rambling on about his fans and how much he loved being famous.

"Helena, Helena, can you think of a better way to serve detention than to help me answer my fan mail?" said Lockhart.

"No," I replied, when I could think of a thousand other things.

"Fame is fickle friend, Helena. Celebrity is as celebrity does," he said.

"Yes, Professor," I murmured, nodding.

I was still annoyed with him for what had happened a few weeks ago on my second day back. He'd cornered me and rambled on about how apparently I'd gotten a taste for publicity and fame and wanted more. In other words, he'd thought the flying car incident was a publicity stunt and gave me a telling-off for it!

I addressed the millionth envelope and then I heard it, a scary voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

Come…to…me…it hissed. I jerked up and looked around, but saw no one but Lockhart and myself. "Professor, did you hear that voice?" I asked.

"Voice?" Lockhart repeated. "What're you talking about, Helena? I think you're getting a bit, drowsy. And great Scott, look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours! Spooky how time flies when one's having fun, isn't it? You can go now, if you'd like. You've done an excellent job."

"Thanks, sir," I said, as I rose up. "Good-night."

I walked out, -expecting Cedric to meet me, but he wasn't there. He'd probably gone off to bed or was still at dinner. I was about to go looking for him when I heard the voice again. I started following it.

Come to me…let me rip you…let me kill you…kill…kill…kill! I followed the voice until I came around to a corner and ran into someone and screamed.

"Helena, Helena, it's alright! It's me!" said Cedric, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Cedric!" I said, relieved. "Where were you?"

"I'm not sure. I was on my way to find you when I guess I must've dozed off. I can't remember. Are you okay?"

"Cedric, Helena, there you are!" said Ron, before I could reply. "Where've you been?"

"Detention," I explained. "Did any of you hear that voice?"

"Voice, what voice?" asked Hermione.

"I heard it first in Lockhart's office, and then just now."

Then I heard it again saying, it's time.

"Helena, what is it?" asked Cedric.

"It's moving. I think it's going to kill!" I got out of Cedric's arms and ran, ignoring the protests of the others to wait until I came to a corridor with water on the floor and spiders scurrying out the window.

"Weird," said Cedric. "I've never seen spiders act like that."

"I don't like spiders," said Ron.

But my attention was on the water's reflection. Words in red paint appeared and when I looked up, I saw it. An inscription in dripping wet fresh red pain.

"'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware,'" said Hermione, looking pale. "Good grief."

"Oh, no," I said, my eyes widened. There, hanging on a torch as stiff as a board was Mrs. Norris. "It's Filch's cat."

Just then, students from every House appeared, and stared at us. It didn't look good with me standing there in the middle of it all. Madame Pomfrey came and gasped in horror.

"'Enemies of the Heir, beware,'" said Malfoy. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

And then Filch's voice was heard.

"What's going on here? Come on, make way, make way." He broke through the crowd. "Potter? What're you—?" Then he saw Mrs. Norris and became scared. "Mrs. Norris? You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you. I'll kill you!"

Before he could lay a finger on me, Professor Dumbledore appeared along with Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Professor Snape and Lockhart. "Argus! Argus, I…" Professor Dumbledore froze when he saw the words on the wall. "Everyone will proceed to their common rooms immediately. Everyone except you four," he said, pointing to myself and my friends. "She's not dead, Argus. She has been Petrified. But how she has been Petrified, I cannot say."

"Ask her!" said Filch, pointing to me. "It's her that's done it. You saw that she wrote on the wall!"

"It's not true, sir, I swear!" I protested. "I never came near Mrs. Norris today! I wouldn't Petrify her, I liked her!"

"If I may, Headmaster, perhaps Potter and her friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?" said Professor Snape. "However, the circumstances are suspicious as I for one don't recall seeing Potter at dinner and remember Mr. Diggory disappeared from the Great Hall after ten minutes."

"I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus," said Lockhart. "Helena was in detention with me helping me answer my fan mail for the past four hours."

"I left early because I was on my way to find Helena when I stopped to rest because I was tired from Quidditch practice. I dozed off and when I woke up, I looked and then I found her," said Diggory. "Ron and Hermione joined us five minutes after."

"We were heading back to our common rooms when we found Mrs. Norris," Ron added. "Really, we swear."

Professor Snape looked Professor Dumbledore who just said, "Innocent until proven guilty, Severus."

"My cat has been Petrified. I want to see some punishment!" said Filch.

"We can cure her, Argus. Professor Sprout has a healthy batch of Mandrakes, which when matured will made into a potion which will revive Mrs. Norris," said Professor Dumbledore. "You four may go, but I strongly advise caution to all."

"Yes, Professor," said Hermione.

Without looking back, we walked off and headed to the Gryffindor portrait hole. We were all worried.

"A bit strange, isn't it?" asked Hermione.

"Strange?" I repeated.

"I have a blackout, then you hear some voice only you hear and then Filch's cat turns up Petrified," said Cedric. "I agree with Hermione. It's strange."

"Should I have told them about what I heard?" I asked.

"Are you mad?" asked Ron. "No! Even in the Wizarding World, hearing voices isn't a good sign."

I bit my lip. "I know I heard it. You do believe me, don't you?"

"Of course we do," said Cedric, squeezing my shoulder.

I felt slightly better, no less concerned.

Word of the attack got around quickly and soon all the copies of Hogwarts, A History, were taken from the library and there was a two-week waiting list. The book was only desired as it contained the legend of the Chamber of Secrets. We all wanted more information, but fortunately, Hermione planned to ask a teacher at our next lesson.

Transfiguration was the next class. We were trying to animals into water goblets. Ron was failing miserably. Then Hermione raised her hand. "Professor, is there anything you can tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

Professor McGonagall hesitated, but then nodded. "Very well," she said. "As many of you know, Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Three of the founder got along quite harmoniously, but one did not. Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed magical-learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, pure-bloods. Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school. But legend says that Salazar built a hidden chamber in the school from the other founders. It's said that Salazar sealed the chamber until the time when his own true Heir returned to the school. The Heir alone would unleash the horror within the Chamber and thus purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic."

"Muggle-borns," said Ron, earning a nod from McGonagall.

"What does the legend tell us about what lies within the Chamber, Professor?" I asked.

"It's said to be the home of a creature that only the Heir of Slytherin can control. It's said to be the home of a monster. Naturally, the school's been searched several times. No such chamber has been found," said Professor McGonagall.

We three exchanged looks and then when the lesson was over, went out to meet Cedric who was waiting for us and looked pale.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Fine, I just didn't sleep well," he said. "I talked to Binns. He told me all he knows. Did McGonagall say anything?"

"Plenty," said Ron. "Do you think it's true, that there's really a Chamber of Secrets?"

"Of course, didn't you see?" said Hermione. "Professor McGonagall's worried, all the teachers are."

"So, if the Chamber's really in existence and has been opened, then that means the Heir's returned to Hogwarts," I said.

"But the question is who is it?" said Cedric.

"Let's think," said Ron. "Who do we know who thinks all Muggle-borns are scum?"

"If you're talking about Malfoy—" said Hermione.

"Of course! You heard him, 'You'll be next Mudbloods.'"

"I heard him, but Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione, skeptically.

"Maybe Ron's right, Hermione," said Cedric. "Look at his family, the whole lot of them have been in Slytherin for centuries."

"Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy might know," I pointed. "Maybe we could trick them into telling us or squeeze a confession?"

"Even that aren't that thick," said Hermione. "But there might be another way. Mind you, it will be difficult and not to mention we'd be breaking at least fifty school rules and it'll be dangerous, very dangerous. We need a book from the Restricted Section called Most Potent Potions. It's got the recipe for the Polyjuice Potion in it. Cedric, do you think you could get it?"

"Sure," he said. "Meet me in the library in half an hour."

Half an hour later, Cedric came by with the book. "Here it is, the Polyjuice Potion. If it's properly prepared, the drinker can take on the shape of another for about an hour. There's just one problem."

"What?" asked Hermione.

"This is the most complicate potion I've ever seen. It'll take a least a month to make and that's if we get all the ingredients," said Cedric.

"A month?" said Ron. "But if Malfoy's the Heir of Slytherin, he could attack half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!"

"It's only plan we've got, Ron," I said. "Another thing; where do we even brew it without being caught?"

"There's always Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," said Hermione. "No one ever goes in there, ever."

Ron, Cedric and I groaned. Moaning Myrtle was a first-girl girl who'd died years ago. She was extremely sensitive and kept crying her eyes out and flooding the bathroom on the second floor. Everyone usually avoided her, but now it seemed we had to work with her. We ended up making the potion there, and she agreed not to tell anyone if we were nice to her, so things worked out somewhat smoothly.

One week later was the first Quidditch match of the season.

The game was Gryffindor against Slytherin and so far Gryffindor was doing badly. Within half an hour, Slytherin had scored ninety points to Gryffindor's thirty and Malfoy kept mocking me. A Bludger then came after me which Fred managed to knock away. It rounded back and knocked Wood down before coming after me. Crud! I kept flying as fast as I could and in all kind of maneuvers, but something was wrong with the Bludger. It kept chasing after me.

"Training for the ballet, Potter?" sneered Malfoy.

"Shut up!" I screeched. Then I saw the Snitch. I chased after it with Malfoy close behind me. He managed to fly ahead of me as we screwed down beneath the stands and tried to avoid the dang Bludger that kept flying after me. We then rose up out of the stands to avoid collision with some wood, but Malfoy fell off his broom and landed painfully on his stomach. I kept going while trying to avoid the Bludger, but it hit my left arm. Pain exploded in my arm as I realized it was broken. I bit down on my tongue as I held on the broom tightly with my legs and managed to catch the Snitch with my free hand before I fell down to the ground and the crowd cheered at another Gryffindor victory, but I was trying not to get killed by the Bludger that still came after me.

"Vinite Incantatum!" shouted Cedric.

The Bludger exploded as he knelt beside me along with several teachers and students.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No, my arm's broken," I said, wincing. "Just help me to hospital wing."

"Not to worry, Helena, I'll fix that arm of your straight away," said Lockhart.

"Please, no!" I begged.

"She needs to go to the hospital wing!" said Cedric.

Lockhart shook his head and performed a spell on my arm which didn't heal the bones; it only removed them, much to our fury. Malfoy made a huge fuss even though Madame Pomfrey said he could go, but I was in for a nasty overnight visit. The Skele-Grow I had to drink was vile, but I'd had worse from other doctor visits.

Ron and Hermione ended up having to leaving early because of their classes, but Cedric was free and Madame Pomfrey agreed to let him stay with me until half an hour before curfew that night.

"How're you feeling?" he asked.

"Lousy," I admitted. "But it could be much, much worse. Thanks for the pumpkin juice and Cauldron Cakes."

"Not a problem. Hey, I've got a surprise. I asked Ginny to bring this down for you." Cedric reached into his bag and then held up Snuffles, which made me smile as he placed him in the crook of my unbroken arm.

"Thanks, Cedric," I said.

"Anything else I can do for you?" he asked.

"Sneak me out of here?" I said, hopefully.

He laughed. "Sorry, but I can't do that."

"Then can you jinx Lockhart into next Tuesday?"

"Maybe," he said, smiling. "Well, at least one thing's definite. He'll be gone by the end of the year. Everyone says the job's jinxed. So, he'll be gone soon."

"Good."

We laughed and then we went on talking until he had to go and I fell asleep after Madame Pomfrey gave me more medicine and helped me out. Later that night, I heard the voice again and woke up with a start to Dobby's smiling face as he said, "Hello?"

"Dobby?" I said, shocked. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Helena Potter should've listened to Dobby," he said, ignoring my question. "Helena Potter should've gone back home when she missed the train."

I was mad. "You meddling little—! You almost got Ron and I expelled!"

"Dobby had to do it, Miss. For Helena Potter's own good! But Dobby hoped that his Bludger would—"

"Your Bludger?" I interrupted, furious. "You made that Bludger chase after me?"

He nodded. "Dobby punished himself afterward. Dobby had to iron his hands."

Normally, I would've pitied him, but my anger outweighed my compassion at that moment. "Dobby, just get down and off of my bed before my bones come back or so help me, I'll strangle you," I growled.

Dobby looked a little frightened and did as I told him. "Dobby is used to death threats; Miss. Dobby gets them five times a day at home."

"I don't suppose you'd care to tell me why you're trying to kill me?" I demanded.

"Not kill you, Miss! Never kill you! Dobby only wants Helena Potter far away from here for her own safety!" said Dobby. "Dobby remembers how it was before Helena Potter triumphied over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We house-elves were treated like vermin, Miss! Of course, Dobby is still treated like vermin." He blew his nose on his pillowcase.

I sighed and then had him join me on the bed, which cheered him up slightly. "Dobby, why do you where that filthy thing?"

"This, Miss? 'Tis a mark of the house-elf's enslavement. Dobby can only be freed if his master presents him with clothes." There was a noise and he looked scared. "Listen! Listen, Helena must get away from here! She must not be in danger now that history is to repeat itself."

"Repeat itself?" I said. "This has happened before?" I grabbed him before he could punish himself. "Dobby, tell me. When did this happen before? Who's doing it now?"

"Dobby cannot say, Miss. Helena Potter must be safe!"

"I don't care about my safety! I'm not a Muggle-born, but one of my best friends is! Dobby, please, tell me!"

Dobby shook his head and disappeared just as Professors McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Madame Pomfrey came in with a little boy. I pretended to be asleep as I listened to them talk.

"What happened?" asked Madame Pomfrey.

"There's been another attack," said Professor Dumbledore.

"Perhaps he managed to take a picture of his attacker," said Professor McGonagall.

Take a picture? My heart sank as I lifted my head up and saw that it was Colin who was the Petrified victim. When the film case was opened, there was the acrid smell of melted plastic.

"What does this mean, Albus?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"It means that our worst fears have been realized," said Professor Dumbledore.

"What shall I tell the staff?" she asked.

"Tell them that Hogwarts is no longer safe. It is as we feared, Minerva, the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."

My breath caught in my throat. This had happened before. But when? How? And who was doing it now? I hugged Snuffles close to me as I eventually fell into a fitful sleep. When I woke up, I put my belongings away and went looking for the others.

I found then in Myrtle's bathroom working on the potion.

"Hey, guys," I said.

"Hi, Helena," said Ron. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine," I said, showing them my mended arm.

"We would've come and met you earlier, but the potion needed some special ingredients and I needed Ron and Cedric's help obtaining them," said Hermione.

"That's fine. But I've got loads to tell you. I—Cedric, are you okay?"

He looked paler and there were dark circles under his eyes. "I had another blackout," he said. "Last night, I was in my common room reading and then the next thing I knew, I was outside on the floor above the hospital wing."

"Anything I can do?" asked Hermione.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine," he said. "Helena, what's the news you've got?"

"Dobby came to see me last night and he said…" I told them everything Dobby had told me and they looked stunned and suspicious.

"So, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" said Cedric.

"That settles it," said Ron. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened it when he was at school here and now he's taught Draco how to do it."

"Maybe, but we'll have to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to be sure," said Hermione. "What I want to know what this creature is and why no one's seen it."

"And why Dobby's going to such drastic measures to protect me," I added. "Assuming his attempts don't get me killed, first. But, poor Creevy. I didn't like him that much, he didn't deserve to be Petrified like that."

"If we're lucky, we'll get a confession out of Malfoy before long and then we can prevent more people from being Petrified like that," said Cedric.

"Filch is crankier than usual over Mrs. Norris," said Ron. "Oh, and guess what, someone sent Lockhart a paint bomb this morning. It turned his skin green and Madame Pomfrey barely managed to undo the hex."

We all burst out laughing as I shared a knowing glance with Cedric.