The explosion after last chapter... y'all really love your Haleb, don't you? I'll keep that in mind ;) Anywho, REVIEW TIME!
Bagilia: So I take it you liked the Haleb? ;) Haha, glad to know it was all worth the wait in the end (and the death threats. Good to know those didn't go to waste). And true, she didn't mention Lucas to him! Just keep that in mind... anyway, thank you so very much for the kind words! I told you to trust me! A Slytherin NEVER backs out on her word! Well actually, that couldn't be further from the truth, but when it comes to a fellow Slytherin bro, it's applicable :D
Sarah: Thanks for the review! I look forward to them so much because of how awesome they are. And hmm, you WILL get a Hardy Boys BrOTP, I will say that. But it might not be between Caleb and Toby, it might be between two others ;) and the wizarding universe, of course! Indeed, Halloween is coming, and it's gonna be stretched out over a few chapters, too! So excited for you all, you're gonna LOVE it! It might just be my favorite grouping of chapters in this whole thing. And wow, right under Vanderjesus? I don't... I can't... I am not worthy! She's Vanderjesus! I will forever worship the ground she walks on, that perfect human.
PrettyWitchyVamp: Okay, that Starbucks scene was wayy too priceless. Although the show is guilty of some advertising hijinks, I'll tell you that. Insidious 2, anyone? And hey now, I never said you would find out about Aria next chapter! Those words never left my mouth... er, keyboard. I just said you WILL find out, although much much later in the story. Haha, I thought that was a pretty clever line worthy of Aria's sassy wit. And Caleb is smart! Of course he's gonna find out. But because he's Caleb, he's gonna do something dramatic and impulsive to get to the bottom of it. And haha, as a fellow Slytherin, you know that our minds work in strange, and a little bit evil, ways ;) but I think you'll like it! Thanks again for the review!
WideOpenSpacesGirl045: That's Caleb for you! Always a prankster, but also a trickster. But then again, Aria's not too hard to crack. He pulled the puppy eyes. Works every time. And wow, thank you so much! I'm so happy you liked it, I worked hard on it for all of your viewing pleasures :) and I think we all want Caleb as our boyfriend. He's just too perfect! And I start school on Tuesday, too! But I'm in high school still :/ Wow, kinda late for college classes, but I still wish you all the luck in the world :D
Titanium Wolf: Well, although it's Halloween this chapter, the actual ball doesn't start until a few chapters later. BUT some serious events will happen during this upcoming period of time, only to blow in everyone's faces at the ball ;) I'll let you know when it's time to turn out the lights, though!
Goldenheart11: I'm gonna miss him even more ;( and indeed, big things go down on Halloween. Stay tuned!
elggup: Yeah, sorry about the salt! Nevertheless, I'm very happy you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you so much! And yeah, we do need to salvage it as best as we can, but it's just so HARD! It's breaking my heart ;(
Sgdp1261: Writing for Aria and Caleb is possibly my favorite part of my story. Why does he have to leave? They didn't even get to make matching friendship bracelets! And haha, Heather is brilliant, I feel like I have to throw in a few references to her every once in a while. And as for Aria being a clutz: not to mention falling off of porches in bright leopard print PANTS! That's so Aria, haha. And ooh, that's gotta hurt :/ I am too, no worries. I'd give an example, but there's too many to name and I'm afraid the other examples will feel left out. Thanks for your review and for reading!
Ava B: Haha, no. No she cannot. And Heather Hogan is awesome. I am patiently awaiting her recap on the finale because I know it's gonna be amazing. Thanks again!
ShadowsOnTheMoon: No, I really can't, because I'm guilty of doing the same thing ;) and hmm, it would make sense to be suspicious of the cat. Hello? Peter Pettigrew anyone? And I'm glad you're enjoying Caleb's friendship with Aria. To be honest, I kinda am too ;) hehe. But seriously? Out of all the funny lines you could've picked, you chose that one? Well alright. I'm so glad you loved this chapter, thank you so much XD
TotalCowGirl: Thank you! :)
Alright, lovelies, here is the next chapter for you! Hopefully you've recovered from your previous swoonfests after that Haleb chapter, and you are ready to process the NEXT chapter before your eyes. Now, I must clarify: when I said Halloween, I meant Halloween during the day. All of the festivities are going to occur at night, which is in a few short chapters! Please don't be too mad, I'm sorry for not clarifying! But I think you'll still enjoy the next few chapters a great deal ;) so anyway, enjoy, and review your faces off! Which you've been so very good at lately ;)
October 31st
"So," Professor Fitz said engagingly at the front of the classroom, "that's the cool thing about goblins; they had rebellion after rebellion, fight after fight, and yet somehow they just never. Gave. Up."
Most of the students nodded their heads; these were the boys. The girls in the class gazed up at Professor Fitz, admiring his charming smile and his perfectly parted brown hair, imagining what it would be like to run their fingers through it.
At the desk across from Hanna and Spencer, who were sitting in the back of the classroom, Prudence Finn was drooling all over her notebook paper as she watched Ezra walk around his desk giving his surprisingly intriguing lecture; the guy sure knew how to entice students with a subject as seemingly boring as History of Magic. Even so, Spencer rolled her eyes as Prudence noticed the small puddle on her desk, and then struggled to wipe it up with the sleeve of her robe as she turned a deep shade of pink. This was Ezra's second year teaching at Hogwarts - well, third year if you counted him being a T.A. - and the girls still couldn't get over how aesthetically pleasing he was.
Get over yourself, bitches, Spencer thought snarkily as she flipped the page in her textbook. He's taken.
Spencer read the passage in front of her over and over again. She didn't have the required textbook for the class in front of her; she had one of the textbooks Aria had snagged from the library, and she was scouring the pages as she tried to absorb as much information as possible about the Chamber, and trying to connect it in her mind to what it could have to do with her and the girls. But Spencer's mind was so clouded that it was extremely difficult to tie everything back together.
Hanna stared blankly at the wall ahead, like she did for every class, before turning to Spencer and noticing that she wasn't paying attention either. "What are you doing?" she whispered fiercely. "How am I supposed to copy off of your notes if you don't listen?!"
Spencer just rolled her eyes. "Relax," she said casually. "I had a lot of free time in the summer when I wasn't getting coffee for Kingsley Shacklebolt, so I made study guides for all the material we'll be studying this year."
Hanna's eyes widened. "You are - "
"Insane?" Spencer finished without missing a beat, still staring at the page in front of her. "I'm over it."
"So then in 1911," Ezra continued up front, "the gargoyles were inspired by the goblins, and started up a rebellion of their own. They were a lot more successful since they actually took heed with their own strike, but they faltered toward the end when - "
"How are you even learning anything about the Chamber?" Hanna whispered to Spencer over Ezra's lecture. "You've just been staring at the same passage; probably even the same word!"
"It is working in my favor," Spencer snapped as she continued to stare at the same passage, the same word, despite Hanna's advice to do otherwise.
"Alright, so that's it for today's lesson," Ezra said as he closed his agenda at his front desk before looking up at the students. "Be sure you know the material well enough, because you might have a pop quiz next class on it." He then delivered a well-timed wink - all of the girls in the class nearly fainted trying to suppress their moans of pleasure - before turning around to erase the chalkboard.
"A pop quiz?!" Hanna squealed before pounding her head against the desk. "Great."
"Why are you even in this class, Hanna?" Spencer said with a laugh. "It's a N.E.W.T. class. You knew that when you enrolled, didn't you?"
"Yes, Spencer, I knew that when I enrolled," Hanna said irritably as she raised her head from the desk. "But I also knew you were enrolling in it, so I figured I'd just use you to pass the class!"
"How clever of you," Spencer said sarcastically as she started to put her books away. She looked up at Ezra at the front of the classroom, answering a student's question as he gathered up his own stuff.
He had to study the Chamber of Secrets once, Spencer thought calculatingly. I wonder if he kept some of his study material.
"Oh! Have a great time at the Halloween Ball tonight!" Ezra called. "Try not to have too much butterbeer!"
Majority of the students laughed at this joke; well, if laughing counted as a bunch of high pitched squeals of delight and fawning, then yes, it was laughing. A group of girls were giggling forcefully as they exited the classroom, being sure to wave goodbye to Ezra on their way out as he waved awkwardly back, unsure of what to do about the attention; he was still a little new to it.
Hanna snorted at this. "How do you think Aria would react if she saw all those girls fawning over her man?"
"Oh, she'd rip their heads right off," Spencer joked, but as Hanna laughed, Spencer turned away from her to look over at the bookshelves along the walls, underneath the windows.
So many books, Spencer thought to herself. One of them has GOT to have something.
"Spence, you coming?" Hanna asked as she made her way over to the door.
"Um, actually I'm gonna stay here for study hall," Spencer said distantly, her gaze still focused on the books on the far wall.
Hanna made a face at this - she was hoping Spencer could come with her to tutor her in another class - but Spencer didn't see it; she just kept staring at the books on the shelves with the intense face she always made when she was onto something.
"Um, okay," Hanna said awkwardly. "Happy studying?"
When Spencer didn't answer again - she tended to be oblivious when she was in the zone - Hanna just rolled her eyes and walked out. She was used to this by now. After a minute, Spencer finally turned around to realize that Hanna was gone, but she didn't have time to be disappointed about it; she had to set to work. Immediately, she made her way toward the bookshelf while Ezra stood up from his desk, straightening a stack of papers to carry over to the back of the room and place in the file cabinets.
"Staying in here today, Spencer?" Ezra asked as he walked toward the back of the room.
Spencer turned to smile at him. "Yep, looks like it. Is that okay with you?"
"Of course," Ezra said warmly as he put the papers in the cabinet before shutting it, clapping his hands against each other to get any chalk dust off of them. "You're always welcome."
"Thank you, Ezra," Spencer said gratefully as she turned back to the books on the shelf. She was the only one of the girls, besides Aria of course, who actually called him by his name - Emily and Hanna didn't really call him anything. It was probably because Ezra saw a confident in Spencer; she was very mature and aware, and they would often have intellectual discussions when she had time to stick around for study hall like she did now. He also never minded her reading or doing other work in his class because he knew how easy it was for her. It was pretty amazing to Spencer; back when she was a first year and he was a seventh year, and when she would see Ezra in the hallway every now and then, she would've never imagined that the two of them could be friends the way they were now.
Spencer started to walk toward his shelf again to get a closer look, when Ezra cleared his throat from behind her.
"Spencer, where did you get this book?" he asked, and the apprehension in his tone made her whip around.
"Err, I..." she began, racking her brain for an explanation. "I um... found it in the library."
"That's not possible," he said, perplexed, as he flipped through the pages of the book that was on Spencer's desk. "There's no way this book would've been in the library."
"Why?" Spencer asked as she made her way over to him, getting a closer look at the book in his hands. He was flipping through the pages of Dark Magic: What it is and What it has Caused. Finally, he flopped the book down on the desk, and it opened to a specific page, one she had specifically marked with a sticky note:
Chapter 18: The Chamber of Secrets.
"Why are you researching the Chamber of Secrets?" Ezra whispered across the desk to her.
"Because it's been opened, obviously," Spencer said bluntly. Ever since Malfoy had dropped, the girls, and the rest of the school for that matter, had been particularly on edge. For one, Mike and Malfoy still hadn't woken yet. And to make matters worse, they still weren't getting any leads on where the fangs had come from. Spencer constantly felt like she was going backwards, a feeling she despised.
Ezra just stared down at the page, growing paler by the second. "No, you can't be looking into this. Do you know how much trouble you'll get into?"
"Why would I get into trouble?" Spencer asked steadily; part of her was actually curious, and the other part of her was being cautious. Trouble did not look good on her record.
"Spencer," Ezra began quietly, "McGonagall has sent a search team throughout the school to look for anything that could clue into the Chamber, and what is causing these student petrifications."
"What does that have to do with me being an eager student seeking for knowledge of what's happening around me?" Spencer challenged.
"Well, I can't argue with that," Ezra said lightly, trying to break the tension a little, "but that's not the point. When she hired the search team, the Daily Prophet got a hold of that little piece of information, and now journalists have been on the hunt everywhere for juicy bits of information."
"Such as..."
"Such as the Minister's former intern clutching research material on the Chamber to her chest?" Ezra suggested as he wiggled the book in mid air, giving Spencer a knowing look.
It took a second, until Spencer finally realized what he was suggesting. "Will people think that I was the one who opened it?"
"People these days spin up crazy stories," Ezra whispered with a grim shrug. "I would just be careful, okay?"
"Alright, alright," Spencer said with a sigh as she grabbed the book from Ezra and shoved it into her bag. Ezra started to walk away from her desk and back toward the board, until he spun around.
"Aria asked me about the Chamber the other night," he said softly, his blue eyes widening with concern. "Why are you two so interested in it?"
"What's not to be interested in?" Spencer offered up. "Obviously the school is hiding something when it comes to the Chamber; can you blame us for wanting to know more?"
"But it's too dangerous," Ezra said with pleading eyes. "At least, McGonagall is playing it out to be extremely dangerous. I..." He then let out a shaky breath. "I don't want Aria getting involved. I told her I'd keep her safe, and I can't do that if she's ducking her head into everything Chamber-exclusive."
"But there's something out there, Ezra," Spencer said daringly. "Something that no one knows about... and we need to find out what it is."
"Why you?" Ezra said pointedly. "You know, Spence, you don't always have to be the one to solve everything. You can let someone else take the reins."
"No I can't!" Spencer argued.
"Why not?"
"Because... I just can't," she said stubbornly as she fiddled with the buckles on her saddlebag that she used to carry her books; cauldrons were so first year, anyway.
"... Okay," Ezra said suspiciously, giving her a look that said, we're not done here, before walking back over to his desk. "Well, I have a meeting in a few minutes. You'll watch out for those reporters, right?" he added as he took a sip from the coffee mug sitting on his desk.
"Yeah, I will," she said with an affirmative head nod. "Thanks for the warning."
"Sure!" he sang as he gathered his things in one giant stack. "See ya, Spencer."
"Bye," she said with a wave. "Oh! And I'll see you at the ball tonight?"
"Yeah, you will!" he confirmed as he stood by the door, and she gave him a coy smile.
"Good. Because I know someone who'll be looking forward to it..."
"Believe me," he said with that famous grin, the one that could light the Eastern Seaboard, as he thought of the petite brunette Spencer was speaking of. "I'm looking forward to it just as much."
And with that, he exited the classroom. Spencer was just about to follow out after him when she stopped.
All of those unattended books, she thought to herself. Maybe one of them has something that I'm looking for.
Without even pondering over it for a second, Spencer dashed over to the bookshelf and started searching.
Side Note: I've always loved the spezra scenes on the show, so I wanted to establish a companionship between them in my story. Of all of Aria's friends, I think he respects her the most. And Spencer is getting to WORK on this chamber research it looks like. Get it girl. Get it :P Anyway, be sure to keep reviewing like you have been ever since this story first made it's way to the internet, and keep being your FABULOUS selves, and wait patiently for the next chapter tomorrow ;)
