Hello again readers. Finals are now over and I have time to update. Anyhow, there is another time change in this chapter just to clear up any confusion. A thank you goes out to the people who have read and especially to those who reviewed.

Chapter 4:

To Catch a Beast

Something strange was going on inside the school. Everyone was being unnaturally quiet and some of the Sorting Hat's friends (paintings, ghosts, staff members, and students) had begun to disappear. Armando Dippet, Headmaster of Hogwarts, spent unusually lengthy amounts of time outside the office. It was a shame too, the Sorting Hat had really begun to be fond of the old man with him having been there for over a decade: a remarkable feat. At least he was completely agreeable, unlike a certain other party.

Speaking of that other party, he had just opened the office door. Albus Dumbledore, fully grown now and a much wiser man strode into the office and looked around. He noticed the Sorting Hat and put a smile on his troubled face. "Why hello, Mr. Sorting Hat," he calmly said tipping his pointed hat, "You're looking well."

"Dumbledore," he answered coldly. He could not forget the experiences he had been through because of this man and his friend, Elphias Dodge. They were both quite renown now: Elphias for his travels and the books he had written upon his return, and Albus for defeating Gellert Grindewald…why it must have been two summers ago. "You seem fine as well. I'm assuming all is well with Elphias. Good. I have business to attend to and it seems you do too. However, if you're not busy, I suppose you could answer a question for me."

"Of course, my friend," he responded pleasantly with a twinkle in his eye. Curse the day he got that twinkle, seethed the Sorting Hat in his brain. He would have to reprimand Albus later for calling them friends.

"Well," he began off coolly but soon lost this peaceful nature, "what in Merlin's most hideous plaid jumper is going on in this school? Everyone is so…quiet and nervous. I moved a centimeter to the left and Headmaster Dippet jumped out of his chair with his wand out as though he were expecting something to attack him."

"You've done so before," chuckled Albus.

"That's not the point here. I was wondering if there was something behind it. Headmaster Avencroft over there left for a brandy with the three monks and never returned and the bloody Baron has not been hollering, and Peeves is everywhere!" he exclaimed. Peeves had stuffed him full of stink pellets a few days ago and when poor little Filius Flitwick came to fetch him from the shelf. Being no more than two feet tall, the first year had decided to use magic to lift the Sorting Hat off the shelf (Oh how the Ravenclaws did enjoy his company. They had the most fascinating questions to ask him and really appreciated his age) having successfully been able to levitate things for several months. The Sorting Hat had really tried to warn the boy, but with him being excited at finally having an opportunity to practice his magic skills, he performed the charm. Before he knew it, he was covered in stink sap. The Sorting Hat had been hit as well, and no matter how smart the Ravenclaws were, they put him through the Hogwarts laundry system.

It had been a nightmare and he still dreamed about the constant tumbling, turning, soaking, and hot spells in those monstrous sinks in the kitchens. Then, the houselves had sown some hideous patches on him and now he looked like any other old hat. They were going to sew together his eyes because they looked like 'holes in the fabric, those careless children' when he had begun to holler. Thank goodness Albus Dumbledore had been taking his sixth year Transfiguration class outside. The prefect for Gryffindor, a nice stern girl named Minerva McGonagall, and a prefect for Slytherin, a rather handsome secretive boy called Tom Riddle, came bursting through the door with their wands out. He was rescued and Tom and Minerva got in a fight over who deserved the points. They had never been on good terms and both being prefects made it worse. It reminded him of the banters Lord Godric and Lord Salazar used to get into. Albus had to break up the fight, and he returned the sorting Hat to his rightful position.

Of course, that was not the point. He just really wondered how Peeves was getting so out of hand when he was terrified of the Bloody Barron. The only way would be if the Barron had vanished, and that would be quite terrible for Hogwarts indeed. However, the Sorting Hat was more nervous now about the look on Albus's face now.

Albus Dumbledore looked rather downcast and the twinkle in his eyes had disappeared. "Something is attacking the inhabitants of the castle and turning them to stone. (A/N: Reference from the inside cover of The Chamber of Secrets for those who do not know. Stone means petrified. How this is logical? I don't know.) It is the monster from inside the Chamber of Secrets." The Chamber of Secrets, the Sorting Hat thought amusingly, that was supposed to have been created by Lord Salazar before he left. "Some of your comrades that you have noticed missing are among the victims. If the culprit is not found soon, I am afraid the school might close."

The Sorting Hat's eyes widened in terror at this thought. If they closed the school, he might be all alone forever. Even his songs would be no good if nobody were there to sing them to. He would be so bored. And what if the wizards forgot him? The Sorting Hat shivered: he would be left to rot. "Is there anything that any of us could do?"

Albus shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. We have already lost too many staff members and students to the monster. It would be best for all who can to stay out of danger. However, if you see or hear anything suspicious, I would certainly appreciate the information. Good evening." He tipped his hat and took his leave of the hat. The Sorting Hat decided he would have to do something about this. Lord Godric would have done something if his school were in danger. The Sorting Hat then got a wonderful idea. He would go find the Chamber of Secrets! If anyone were to know where Lord Salazar was to hide a secret room, it would be him. He, by the way, was the only one to really know the man. But how was he to get out of the office? Dumbledore had warned the staff members of his previous excursions so only somebody completely feeble-minded would possibly let him out…

His opportunity came to him squeezing through the door. Horace Slughorn, a younger member of the staff who was particularly…well to be nice…plump, had just wobbled into the office. The Sorting Hat smiled evilly to himself. This was too easy…

"HORACE SLUGHORN," bellowed the hat in his most intimidating lowest voice he could make at that volume, "THIS IS THE GHOST OF MERLIN!!!"

The man gasped and fell down to his knees with his head facing the ground. "By Jove! Are you really? What do you command great magical one?"

"YOU ARE TO TAKE THAT MARVELOUS HAT DOWN FROM THE SHELVES AND TO PLACE HIM ON THE GROUND. YOU MUST NOT TELL ANYBODY OF THIS INCIDENT, ESPECIALLY ALBUS DUMBLEDORE."

Slughorn made some reverent unbalanced bows, stammering, "Y-y-yes, oh mighty o-one!" With that, he took the Sorting Hat off the shelf and scuttled out of the office.

The Sorting Hat chuckled to himself, "What a fool. Now off to find that chamber: it can't be too hard to find. There are not many places to hide huge chambers…"

OoO

The Sorting Hat was huffing and puffing as he reached the bottom of the staircase. Who knew that it would take so much energy to tumble down stairs? He peered over the edge of the fourth floor landing. Dizziness overtook him as he saw how many stairs he would have to fall down just to reach the first floor. "Lord Salazar would probably have hid it in the dungeons," mumbled the Sorting Hat.

"Hid what?" asked a squeaky voice. The Sorting Hat cursed under his breath and turned to face Filius Flitwick looking inquisitively at him.

"My…uh…toothbrush," stuttered the Sorting Hat. He then felt like slapping himself in the head because he did not have any teeth.

"I doubt that Salazar Slytherin would have wanted to hide your toothbrush," said Filius. Of course, someone could always take that route instead. Filius reminded him a lot of Elphias Dodge when he had been younger. Luckily for Elphias, however, he had friends like Albus Dumbledore and did not get knocked down in the halls everyday. "Maybe you would like to take a stroll with me? We're not supposed to go out alone in the halls anymore, but if we are caught, I can say we were just on our way to the Ravenclaw Common room." The Sorting Hat liked Filius: he had a plan to get out of sticky situations unlike Albus. With that, they were off on their stroll.

On the way, they ran into Myrtle Sanders, a second year who was sobbing as she made her way down the hall. "Why, Myrtle," said the Sorting Hat, "are you sobbing when you could be with your friends in the common room?"

"I don't have any friends," she spat. "And Olive Hornby was making fun of my glasses again."

Filius gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't let Olive bother you. She's only teasing you to make you cry. If you ignore her, then she'll stop."

"She'll never stop," cried Myrtle while her glasses fogged up. Myrtle ran down the hall into the Grand Staircase. The Sorting Hat told Filius to run after her but as they reached the landing, they ran into Minerva McGonagall.

"Oh no," moaned Filius. The Sorting Hat was in deep water if McGonagall turned them over to the Headmaster.

"What are you doing up out of hours?" interrogated Minerva looking over the brim of her glasses. Her stare made the Sorting Hat want to shrivel up and go cry in a corner.

Thank goodness Filius was able to keep his head in this situation. "I was just taking the Sorting Hat to the Ravenclaw Common room so that we could talk to him. He gets awful lonely and it's such a waste of knowledge to leave him there all day."

"Oh, I'm so lonely!" exclaimed the Sorting Hat dramatically while flopping over in Filius's arms.

Minerva sighed and was about to let them leave when somebody said, "Ten points from Ravenclaw for wandering around the halls after hours." They all whirled around to see Tom Riddle standing at the other end of the hall leaning on a gargoyle. "My, my, Minerva, I can't believe you were going to let them go. I'm afraid I may have to report this to Headmaster Dippet. After all, these are such dangerous times," he drawled with a haughty smirk on his face.

"This is my patrol area, Riddle, and I can deal with whoever wanders in here on my own," Minerva snapped. They continued to argue over prefect policies when Professor Slughorn waddled around the corner with sweat streaking down his face shouting that he had talked to the ghost of Merlin. The Sorting Hat and Filius took the opportunity to escape the prefects. Deciding that now would be a good time to ask, the Sorting Hat began to question Filius about the Chamber of Secrets.

"I don't know much about it besides the legend, so I'm afraid that I'm not much help. However, I have a feeling that Salazar Slytherin would have hid it somewhere that nobody would guess. Especially not you…"

"Me! I knew the man…" the Sorting Hat interrupted.

"Which is precisely your problem Mr. Sorting Hat. He did not want anyone to find it, so he would obviously hide it from people who knew him. You're a hat, sir, so that means you're basically immortal," said Filius. The Sorting Hat had never thought of this in that angle. Considering Salazar would have hidden it from him, he had no chance of finding it. "Maybe you need to do more research, after all," Filius added quickly, "it cannot be impossible to find. Someone will discover it sooner or later."

"Yes," the Sorting Hat responded absent-mindedly. "I suppose we should start where Salazar never usually went. We should start on the seventh floor." Filius started to carry him up the stairs when they heard a scream resounding from the second floor. "That must be the BEAST!!!! We must save those peasants!!!!!! Whoops," he said, "sorry, wrong time period." Filius sighed and ran down to the second floor.

OoO

Minerva stormed down the hall in a rage that only Riddle could put her in. He always tried to take over her prefect duties and to beat her in every class. She worked extremely hard to get good marks but all he did was charmed the teachers. "Some prefect," she thought, "he gets everything he wants, except in Dumbledore's class." Minerva had to smile to herself; Dumbledore did not let Riddle get away with any of his nonsense in Transfiguration. This made it her favorite and best subject.

However, as she passed the Transfiguration classroom that night she was not in a good mood at all: there was another student out of bed standing in front of the Second Floor bathroom. Pomona Sprout was not going to be let go as easily as Filius unfortunately…

"Sprout!" Minerva barked causing the first year to turn around terrified. "Out of bed out of hours. This will cost your house. 25 points from Hufflepuff." She felt a lot better now.

"I was sent here by Professor Hughes to find Myrtle Sanders," cried Pomona. "She left the Common room three hours ago and hasn't come back. I heard she went into the bathroom so I came here; she always comes here when Olive Hornby is mean to her. I was too scared to go in because the monster might be in there, since it could be anywhere. I'm sorry I broke the rules. Please don't let the monster eat me."

Minerva now felt really bad about taking her anger out on Sprout. "Come on," she said. "We'll go in there together. Sanders should be glad to have some company." They walked into the bathroom, which was rather dark for the nighttime. "Sanders," she murmured. Something about the surroundings gave her the chills. As she reached the first stall the door to the bathroom slammed shut plunging the room into complete darkness. She heard Pomona's whimper echo off the walls of the room. Then she tripped over something on the floor.

"Lumos," she said. Minerva squinted through the bright light. What she saw made her want to throw up. There was a foot sticking out of the second stall. This foot was connected to a body. A very limp body that lay motionless on the floor with eyes that no longer saw any light. Myrtle Sanders lay dead on the bathroom floor. Minerva then realized that she was screaming at the top of her lungs, but some else was as well.

OoO

Pomona crept into the bathroom behind Minerva McGonagall. This bathroom always gave her the creeps since the beginning of the year. She did not know why, only that no one believed there was anything wrong. She could not help to think about how things began to be shifted around the room once the attacks began. One day a plant would be by the door and the next it was standing next to the last stall.

"Myrtle," she called out timidly. Maybe she should have accepted some of the help her dorm mates had offered. She was not brave like McGonagall, yet she still felt the need to prove her worth. She could not stand being labeled as a scared Hufflepuff. "Myrtle," she said a bit louder. Then she stopped in her tracks, there was somebody hiding in the shadows. She turned to go tell McGonagall but the lights went out. She saw something dash pass her and out the door. Pomona could tell it was a boy before complete darkness enveloped the room.

She made her way towards the wall so she could find the door. They would have to get a teacher. Pomona shivered as a ghost went through her. "Please watch," she said before realizing who the ghost was. This ghost was crying to herself as her round glasses fogged up; her normally brown hair now a shade of clear silver.

"Well, excuse me. I can't help that I'm dead!" hissed Myrtle Sanders. She floated off through the other wall moaning and crying. Pomona screamed and did not notice when the door banged open.

OoO

Filius opened the doors to the girl's bathroom without even thinking about how much trouble he would be in if a prefect or a teacher caught him. "Wait," protested the Sorting Hat. "We cannot go in there. That's the girl's bathroom. Just think if Dippet were to come here. My word, and I thought you knew what you were doing."

The Sorting Hat turned on the light with the tip of his head. "And if Rowena were here now, my, my, I would have been served as the giant squid's dinner." He stopped talking as he saw little Pomona Sprout screaming as if she had been stuck with a thousand pins. He looked around to make sure the beast was not there.

"Pomona," Filius asked. "What's the matter? Are you alright?" She did not respond. It was if she could not hear them. The Sorting Hat then noticed that somebody else was screaming. As Filius continued to attempt talking to Pomona, the Sorting Hat flopped out of Filius's hands and rolled toward the stalls.

Minerva McGonagall who normally looked mature and dignified sat on the floor screaming like a child. The Sorting Hat would have chuckled if he had not seen the foot sticking out underneath the second stall's door. He rolled over more and saw what he already knew what must have been true. Myrtle Sanders lay dead on the bathroom floor. He felt like a failure. The beast had been here and gone and killed a student. He had not found the Chamber of Secrets or killed the beast. Lord Godric must be turning in his grave, thought the Sorting Hat. He always found the monster.

Albus Dumbledore ran into the room and saw Myrtle lying dead on the floor. The twinkle faded out of his eyes as he saw this scene. He reached down and picked up the Sorting Hat. "This is a sad day for Hogwarts," he said gravely. "There is nothing less than catching the heir of Slytherin that could keep the school open."

The rest of the night passed in a blur as the teachers moved Myrtle's body. Filius, Minerva, and Pomona were taken to the hospital wing to rest from the terrible event. The most surprising event was that Tom Riddle caught the Heir of Slytherin. It was a third year named Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid was expelled, but allowed to stay at Hogwarts as gamekeeper, to many people's dismay. The attacks ceased to occur.

Yet something did not seem right. The Sorting Hat could swear that Hagrid was an honorable man. He needed someone to assure him. And of course, the only man that could confirm anything of this matter was Albus Dumbledore. He was given the chance to talk to him a fortnight later when Albus came to talk to Headmaster Dippet. Dippet was out on a call from the Ministry. Peeve's second cousin had decided to haunt the Hall of Prophesy and nearly four-dozen prophesy orbs had been broken.

"Ah, Dumbledore," he said trying to sound old and wise. "You seem…well."

"What do you wish to know," answered Albus smiling without looking up from the desk. He was looking over some of the complaints that had begun to pile up on the Headmaster's desk. Dippet was lucky to have a man like Dumbledore as hie Deputy Headmaster.

"I am just not positive that we have actually caught the Heir of Slytherin. I think he or she is still out there."

"That I believe as well. Hagrid may not have been a bright student, but he is good at heart. The heir is still out there somewhere, lying low for the time being. However, I am completely certain that you have something else you wish to say."

"Yes, actually, you see…I was wondering…but I am not certain…if…no, it is a silly question."

"If what?"

"If there are other heirs out there as well. There's an heir of Slytherin, so there must be…"

"You wish for your old master's heir to come reclaim you? That is highly surprising to me. I thought you would enjoy the peace, quiet, and freedom of the Hogwarts grounds."

"Can't you see Albus? I am a prisoner of this castle! I sit here alone every day with no chance of greatness in sight. Every day is the same. And the students mock me something awful."

"I do not know if they exist as well, but I feel that history has a tendency of repeating itself."

"So you think…"

"One can never be sure, but if they exist, they will come here eventually."

"How will we know?"

"When the time comes, you will know what to do."

Sorry it took so long to update. I haven't had much time to work on this. The next chapter should be fun though. A lot more action then this one. Please let me know what you think by pressing the magical little review button.