"Stay still," Honey ordered Marvolo as she wrapped the bandage around his forearm.
He was angry at her for digging out the shard of glass from his flesh with those extra sharp tweezers. She was wrapping him up like a mummy, forcing him to heal like a Muggle, instead of giving him potions to heal faster and he knew it. He was rebelling against her in any little form he could. It didn't matter. Compared to what he had done to her, this was nothing. Besides, she was being accommodating him. She had brought him a nice bed to lie on, which she found in a storage room, and clean sheets.
With the truth finally out, Marvolo had given up his façade of a charming gentleman and openly glared at her with hatred. It was gone for a split second when he winced as she tightened the bandage. "I'm leaving now. Behave while I'm gone or else."
Honey left the Chamber of Secrets, returning to Ravenclaw Tower. With her head held high and legs moving swiftly, Honey walked up the spiral staircase she had once dreaded. Before she used to keep her eyes down and count the steps to distract herself from the tight, dizzying circles. Normally towards the middle she would be panting and fighting to catch her breath, her legs aching. No more would she have to cling onto the walls for support or be nervous within the tight space.
At the top of the stairs she reached a door. There was not a handle and no keyhole: nothing but a plain expanse of aged wood and a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Reaching out a hand, she knocked once, and in the silence the sound of a cannon blasted. At once the eagle's beak opened, but instead of a bird's call, a soft, musical voice said, "I have a face and no ending form. Arms of multiple numbers. What am I and what is my purpose?"
"You're a clock," said Honey. "You're meant to keep track of time."
"Hurry before yours runs out," said the voice, and the door swung open.
"Perfect. Now you're giving me ominous warnings." She said to the knocker before entering the portal.
The empty Ravenclaw common room was a wide, circular room. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue and bronze silks. By day the Ravenclaws would have a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars, which were echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. There were tables, chairs, and bookcases, and in a niche opposite the door stood a tall, white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. Beside it was a door that led to the dormitories above.
Honey strode to the marble woman. "You know the real danger hasn't appeared until a knocker starts talking to you. Wonder whose ghost I'm going to see next?"
She walked up the stairs to her room and strolled past the rows of four-poster beds to get to hers. Taking off her cloak, she folded it on her bed.
"Engorgio," she whispered, turning her trunk back to its normal size. Opening the trunk, she took out her grandfather's mini-portrait and placed it on its usual spot on her nightstand. Her grandfather yawned and stretched without a care in the world, knowing nothing of her ordeal and the monster she had imprisoned.
"Good morning," she said to him.
"Dum...dore dead yet?" he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"I'll kill him. Just you wait." She said playfully, surprising him.
She laughed as she fished a school robe out of the trunk and headed for the bathroom. She turned on the shower, and as the hot water sprinkled on her, Honey turned her head and looked at her naked reflection in the full-length mirror across from the shower stall. While she was in the hospital her parents had charmed everything in her room not to reflect her image. She figured it out one day when one of her uncles brought her a bouquet of flowers. He conjured a glass vase to place them in and put it on top of the nightstand, right next to her. Her mother was furious when she came in the room and saw the vase. With a look of regret, Honey's uncle had quickly turned the glass into stone.
Honey pretended like nothing was wrong, but she'd seen it, her reflection on the vase. She was hideous, reduced to nothing but skin and bones. Scars from large rough, white lines to small indentations decorated her skin. She looked like a starving bird that had been beaten and plucked clean of her feathers.
"Who are you?" she asked to the girl in the mirror.
"I'm you," the girl replied.
Honey shook her head. "No, you can't be." This girl with flawless, glowing skin and lush curves was not her. The person staring back at her was a stranger.
"Your dorm mates enchanted the mirror to show their reflections as beautiful," said the girl in the mirror.
Honey blinked, pulled from her thoughts. "Really?" It could be true that the talking reflection was always there; she might not have noticed it before. She did everything she could to avoid looking at her own reflection for fear of seeing how much worse she had gotten.
"Yes. I'm supposed to compliment them, too. But you look deathly pale and thin. Are you sick?"
"Well, I haven't slept in days," said Honey, inclining her head. "I'm very tired and thought I was hallucinating. I was contemplating destroying you."
"Goodness, don't! I'm just an innocent mirror. Don't break me—you're pale, yes, but you're gorgeous pale—"
"Enough. I won't break you," said Honey. She stepped out of the stall and grabbed a towel to wrap around herself. She was glad it was just a harmless enchanted mirror. For a moment there she'd thought she was going mad. She put on some clean robes, opened the door, and then stopped.
"Spoke too soon," she murmured, taking in her surroundings. In place of the hallway of Ravenclaw Tower was a desert of sand. Looking back at the bathroom, she saw that it had transformed into a dark cave. "I'm losing my mind. Wonderful."
Deciding not to step out into the hot desert, she turned around and wandered into the cave, feeling that it would be safer for her. Blinded by the darkness, she continued on by feeling her way through. As she ventured further and further, the cave began to feel like a tunnel that was getting smaller and smaller. Unable to stand on her legs because of the small space, Honey went down on her hands and knees and crawled. She crawled until she could not feel her arms anymore and her legs were numb and stiff. The space was tight enough now that she had to crawl on her belly. Many times she wanted to quit and turn back, but she couldn't. Something was preventing her.
Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, her heart raced. She doubled her efforts to reaching it. At last she was there. Emerging from the dark tunnel and into a lake of fresh, clear water, she had transformed into something, a creature of some sort that could breathe underwater. She couldn't see herself but she felt that she was different. She was no longer human. And she didn't care.
That night Evie Stone woke up to use the bathroom. On her way back to bed she noticed that Honey had returned. The bed curtains were closed, but Honey's trunk was clearly visible in the moonlight. Evie tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. Something was keeping her up, a muffed sound or something. She sat up and glanced around the room, searching for where it was coming from. Seeing movement from the curtains around Honey's bed, Evie thought Honey was having a nightmare and kicking her curtains. Dismissing it, Evie attempted to go back to sleep but still couldn't. The noise was driving her mad. Finally having had enough, she got out of bed and pulled Honey's curtains aside just a little to see what was wrong.
Honey was lying on her side facing Evie, one arm on top of the other, fisting the sheets. With her legs together, Honey pulled her knees to her stomach, her back arching out. Then she pushed both legs down, straightening her body, arching forward. She was twitching and jerking from one position to the other in an almost snake-like manner. It was disturbing to watch, but Evie couldn't look away.
After a while Honey stopped moving, as if the nightmare she was having was over. Relieved that she could sleep now, Evie was about to close the curtain and return to her bed when Honey's head suddenly jerked in Evie's direction and her eyes opened. Honey was staring right at her with yellow slit-eyes. They were inhuman, resembling the eyes of a cat or a reptile rather than her usual blue.
Evie covered her mouth with both hands, not letting the frightened gasp escape. Slowly she stepped backward toward her bed. Jumping onto the bed, she pulled the covers over her head with trembling hands and lay there shaking for the rest of the night.
"Where have you been?" Becky asked Honey the next morning.
"I thought you said you'd only be gone for two weeks. It's been nearly a month," stated Meredith.
Honey smiled as Becky and Meredith welcomed her back in their unique way as she entered the common room from the stairs. "Something came up. Nothing serious," she told them. "Anything happen while I was gone?"
"Loads," they said. Each taking one of her arms, they led her to their usual couches and began gossiping.
"Umbridge's been appointed as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, going around inspecting classes, and Potter got detention with her for speaking out about Cedric," said Meredith.
"Poor Harry," muttered Becky, who had a serious crush on him and believed him when he claimed that You-Know-Who's return, in spite of the Daily Prophet making snide allusions to him for months.
"Poor Harry?" Meredith glared at her. "Cedric's the one who's dead!" she half-shouted, half-whispered, then she broke into a sob. "My poor, sweet Cedric..."
Becky and Honey patted Meredith's back. She'd been secretly in love with Cedric since her first year. She was beyond devastated when news of his death reached her ears.
"If only...if only..." Meredith's lips trembled as if she was unable to finish her sentence. "If only Chang hadn't stolen him from me."
"She couldn't have stolen him from you, Meredith." Becky reminded her. "He was never yours. Besides, Cho Chang seems nice."
Meredith wiped her eyes and turned to Becky with an evil grin. "I heard she's after Harry Potter now that Cedric is gone."
"That man-stealing hussy!" hissed Becky. "As if it wasn't bad enough she stole Cedric from you. Now she's after my Harry."
Honey cleared her throat. Although she was finding Becky's sudden change of opinion amusing, she wanted to hear about what else had happened while she was gone. But her friends weren't paying her much attention as they continued talking about Harry Potter and Cho Chang.
"Did you hear that rumor about how Potter murdered Cedric or purposely let him die, just so he could swoop in and take Chang?" asked Meredith.
"That's complete rubbish!" said Becky.
"I know," Meredith agreed. "I admit Chang has a pretty face, but really, she's not worth killing someone for."
"Harry did no such thing. I'm sure he did his best trying to save Cedric," Becky huffed. She took a few parchments from her bag and started folding them into cranes. She did it often as a way to relax herself and vent her frustrations and anger, losing herself in her craft and tuning out her surroundings.
Now that Becky was lost to her, Meredith turned to Honey. "Students are splitting into groups: ones who believe him, ones who don't, and ones who plain don't care."
"Do you believe him, Meredith? Do you believe You-Know-Who has returned?"
Meredith glanced left and right before inching closer to Honey and dropping her voice. "Yes, I do, but I'm not going about announcing it. This is a very delicate matter. One wrong word and you'll turn into a target. My uncle works at the Ministry. He told me all about how Umbridge handles her business. I can't even imagine what she's doing to Potter." She shook her head sympathetically, and then leaned back when someone walked past her chair.
In a normal tone she said, "And Grubbly-Plank wants us to sketch Bowtruckles for her. Remember to label all of its body parts."
"And McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus spell and the essay for Sprout on self-fertilizing shrubs," said Evie as she entered their circle and cautiously settled down, studying Honey intensely.
"I've already finished the majority of them," said Honey.
"You did?" said Meredith. "What about your dream diary for Trelawney?"
"I wrote down whatever I could think of."
"But how will you find out your fortune?" asked Meredith.
"Half of what she says come true." added Becky.
"But not the ones about dying, though. Those never happen." said Meredith.
"What is it, Evie?" Honey asked her, seeing that her friend had a strange look on her face.
"Nothing. I was, um...thinking about...stuff."
Soon they parted ways, each going their own class. Honey's mind floated through her classes until she entered the shadowy Divination room later, Professor Trelawney stared at her for two long minutes before walking up to her, circling around her, and looking her up and down. Honey stood still as a board, letting Professor Trelawney inspect her. This was the class Honey had been waiting for. The one she dreaded yet anticipated.
"The dark cloud has thinned," Trelawney said thoughtfully. "You're out of danger for now, but I see a storm brewing in the distance. Let me see the start you've made on your dream diary, please."
Honey took her dream diary from her bag and handed it to Professor Trelawney.
"A crow—you're flying to your death...a bat—oh no, no, you're not flying to your death. Something is going to fly at you, causing death...hmm...a desert...you're going to be buried alive. Climbing through a dark tunnel...you're descending into darkness. Water—swimming? You're going to drown. Yes, yes, drown. Sink to the bottom," said Professor Trelawney as she read the contents, flipping page after page.
It sounded like the woman was spouting nonsense. But the constant predictions she would make of her gruesome and early death bothered her. Although after what had happened with Marvolo, she wasn't quite sure if Trelawney's word were a mere joke or if she really saw Honey's death.
"Your shadow looks odd." Trelawney suddenly said.
Uncertain of how to respond, Honey shook her head and excused herself.
"Oh, Miss Sheridan." Honey turned around and was greeted by Professor Umbridge. "How was your check-up, my dear? I was so worried when you didn't return according to your schedule," Umbridge said in her high-pitched voice, breathy and little-girlish.
Honey smiled politely. "As mentioned in the letter I sent, I was held back for further examinations."
"Nothing serious, I hope," said Umbridge, her large, round eyes bulging in concern. Feeling the urge to tease, Honey said, "It was just a precaution. But if something is amiss...I might have to move back to France to be closer to my healer."
"Oh, no! It would be a shame for Hogwarts to lose such a gifted student."
And her parents' donations to the Ministry, thought Honey. Her parents were donating money to the Ministry as a bribe for them to look after her and make sure her first school year was as pleasant as possible.
"You are far too kind," said Honey, and she excused herself.
She didn't want to be in company with the toad woman any longer. Seeing how fake she was made Honey feel sick, and she realized she needed to heed these ill feelings she'd been having and listen to the voices. Marvolo had already proved she was a poor judge of character. Umbridge may act nice and kind, but for all Honey knew she might be a murderous lunatic, too. Honey's instincts were good, but she had stupidly chosen to ignore them. Not anymore.
After the crowd died down, Honey went into the Chamber of Secrets through the hidden passageway underneath a staircase on the ground floor. She had brought Marvolo a plate of food from the Great Hall. As she approached the bed in the middle of the Chamber, she found that it was empty. Calmly placing the plate on the chair next to the bed, she glanced about the Chamber in search of him. He wasn't difficult to find, seeing as he'd left a bloody trail for her to follow.
"Going somewhere?"
With his injuries Marvolo hadn't got too far. In fact, he was lying against a wall a few feet away from her, hiding in the shadows. His bandages were soaked with blood and filthy from crawling on the dirty floor. It seemed as if he was desperate to get away but didn't have enough strength to move.
"I told you to behave," said Honey. Chains appeared from the four corners of the bed and flew towards Marvolo.
"No!" he screamed as the chains circled his legs and dragged him back to the bed.
Honey picked up the plate and sat down on the chair. "I brought you food."
Marvolo responded to her cool attitude by spitting out line after line of foul speech while he pulled at his restraints.
"You must be hungry. Eat, Marvolo," she said, putting the spoon against his lips.
Marvolo turned his head away and pressed his lips together.
Honey stood from the chair and set the plate down. "I don't want you to starve."
"No."
"It tastes delicious."
"No."
"All right. If you're going to be difficult, fine." She grabbed Marvolo's jaw and turned his head, forcing him to face her. Holding his face with one hand, with the other she produced a plastic tube from her pocket. She forced his mouth open and pushed the tube down his throat, making sure it was secured. She picked up the plate and stirred the food around with the spoon, trying to make everything mushy and creamy. "Don't worry about the internal bleeding." She tapped the tube with the spoon. "I've got something for that. I'm an expert."
This is not Honey. Marvolo thought as she forced fed him. What had happened to Honey that caused her to change so much? It all started after she died in the Chamber of Secrets. She was dead. He saw her take her last breath with his own eyes. Suddenly, she was alive and different. There were voices. They were screaming about a Mudblood tainting Salazar Slytherin's sanctuary. The only explanation that he could think of was that the real Honey was dead and a Mudblood's ghost had taken possession her body. Could she be possessed by a ghost? There were ghosts floating all around Hogwarts, but he'd never seen one possess a student or teacher. If that wasn't the case, then what was wrong with Honey?
Marvolo growled in frustration. He couldn't think of any other reason for her drastic change in behavior, personality, and magic. Not knowing was driving him mad. He needed to know why. Perhaps it was not a ghost but something else entirely, a creature or an entity of some sort that had taken over Honey's body. He had to find out the truth.