Ari found himself enjoying settling into the routine of Hogwarts. He ate his own food at the welcome feast, and nobody mentioned his bar mitzvah. The next day, Ari was eating his egg omelet and marveling over the fact that his mother always sends him good fresh food, when he heard screaming coming from the Gryffindor table. Everyone sat silently until the screaming stopped.

"Someone got a howler!" Terry laughed.

"I don't get why any parent would do that," Ari said. "She's embarrassing herself more than she is embarrassing her kid. Everyone knows that there is a mother who yells in Gryffindor."

"Its how you yell at people from far away," Stephen explained. "She felt her son needed a scolding and provided one the best way she could."

Ari was looking forward to getting to know his new defense professor. He figured anyone would be better than Quirrell. He was wrong.

The first defense class, Lockhart gave out a ridiculous quiz. Once Ari realized that none of the questions are academic, he decided to have fun on some of the more creative questions. For favorite color, he picked blue and white, Liverpool colors. Secret ambition was to be the goalie at football. Greatest achievement was scoring a goal. Ideal birthday gift was a football of course. The ironic part was that Ari remembered some of the right answers. He was tempted to put lilac as the favorite color, but didn't want to inflate an already overinflated ego. After handing in his paper, he watched Lockhart make a fool out of himself for the rest of class.

The rest of the first week of classes was uneventful. Ari wasn't too pleased with the mandrakes, preferring ordinary plants, but made sure his earmuffs were fully in place and did what he was supposed to.

Before he knew it, it was Friday afternoon and Ari was headed home for Shabbos. During the meal, he told his parents about the episode on the train.

"Why did you tell them you were having a bar mitzvah?" Tatti accused.

"I didn't," Ari said, "I was practicing my parsha and they asked what I was doing."

"Maybe we could have one table for Hogwarts friends," Mommy offered.

"They don't look Jewish," Ari pointed out. "Michael has very long hair, Dean is black, Ernie's hair is on the long side, and none of them have Jewish names. Besides, nobody mentioned it since the train ride."

"Maybe they'll forget," Tatti said.

"If they don't, what should I do?" Ari wanted to know.

"Make sure they know exactly what they need to do to look Jewish," Mommy suggested, "but hopefully, it won't come to that."

For the rest of September and October, the bar mitzvah didn't come up. Ari wondered if his friends agreed not to bring it up, if they were planning their own party, or if Kevin managed to explain to everyone why they can't come. Before Ari knew it, it was Halloween again.

Once again, Ari ate in the common room while his friends went to the feast. He remembered the troll from last year, and hoped that nothing will happen this year.

"Mrs. Norris was attacked!" Terry yelled when they came back to the common room.

"Who?" asked Ari.

"Filch's cat," Michael explained.

"The old guy who cleans the floors?" Ari asked. "Why would someone attack his cat?"

"There was sign," Terry said, "that the chamber of secrets was reopened. Enemies should beware or something like that."

"It looked like it was written in blood," Michael added.

"It looked like red paint to me," Kevin said.

"But who did it?" Ari asked.

"Probably Potter and his cronies," Stephen said. "They were the first ones there."

"What happened to the cat?" asked Ari.

"It looked dead," Terry told him.

"I doubt a second year could do that," Ari said. "I know that I can't kill a cat."

"Who else could it be?" Stephen asked.

"You said the sign said enemies, beware?" Ari asked.

"It said enemies of the heir beware," Michael corrected.

"Who is the heir?" Ari asked. "What chamber was open?"

"Maybe the chamber of secrets," Michael suggested.

"What's that?" Ari wanted to know.

"They say that Slytherin built a secret chamber that only his heir can open," Stephen explained, "But there's no proof of it anywhere."

"That makes it simple," Ari said. "Stay away from Slytherins, unless you know that they're okay, and you shouldn't get hurt."

People continued talking about the attack for the next few days. After a while though, the conversation shifted to quidditch.

Once again, the first match of the year was Gryffindor against Slytherin, and it was on Shabbos. Ari didn't mind missing it. He knew he would hear all the details when he came back.

Sure enough, he heard about Harry ending up in the hospital with a boneless arm and that Gryffindor won. The next morning at breakfast, he heard that Colin Creevey was petrified. For the first time, Ari was worried about his safety at Hogwarts.