Halloween arrived and there was an air of anticipation at Hogwarts. The Great Hall had been decorated with the usual live bats, Hagrid's enormous pumpkins had been carved into lanterns large enough for three men to sit in, and there were rumors that Dumbledore had booked a troupe of dancing skeletons for the entertainment at the feast. The AA took a few minutes of silence in the morning to honor Lily and James Potter. After that, they had a discussion over whether to go the Halloween feast or accept Nearly Headless Nick's invitation (tendered to Ron and Parvati for the entire AA) to attend his Deathday party.
While Hermione thought it would be quite interesting and was all for going, the rest of the AA weren't so enthused. Finally Daphne said, "Well, I was at my great-grandfather's fiftieth Deathday party two years ago and it was quite boring. Out of deference to his still living descendants, there were some nice refreshments, but that was the only good thing. His speech was boring, the other ghosts that attended were quite tedious, and the Headless Hunt crashed the party halfway through. My parents had to threaten to go the Ministry to expel them before they would leave. And the food for the ghosts was not edible. It was all rotten and disgusting, so that the ghosts could almost taste them."
"Then we're not going to Nick's party," said Ron firmly, making a face. "I don't think he'd have edible food for us, and the main reason he invited us was so we could tell Sir Patrick of the Headless Hunt how frightening and impressive we found Nick."
The others agreed (Hermione a bit reluctantly), and at seven o'clock in the evening headed down for the Halloween feast. The rumors of dancing skeletons proved to be true and the students enjoyed the entertainment along with the delicious food. Towards the end of the feast, the AA noticed that the Gryffinclaw quartet (as Luna, Ginny, Colin, and Liam had dubbed themselves) weren't at either the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw tables. They wondered if Nearly Headless Nick had invited the quartet to his Deathday party and they'd attended, though it didn't seem very likely. While the Gryffinclaws were acquainted with the Gryffindor House ghost, none of them seemed likely to want to give up attending their first Halloween feast at Hogwarts for another event.
As one of the older Hufflepuffs got up to go to the bathroom, Susan suggested, "Maybe the Gryffinclaws left a couple of minutes ago to go to the bathroom, too. They've made a habit of going everywhere together. Well, they wouldn't all go into the same bathroom, but you know what I mean." The others nodded, for there had been instances in the past that some of them had gone to the loo in a group, with the boys waiting outside the girls' bathroom and vice versa.
"That's probably it," said Anthony, and a few minutes later, the feast ended and everyone got up to leave.
Outside the Great Hall, the students were talking happily, when suddenly there was a halt out in the nearest corridor. The chatter, bustle, and noise died suddenly (other than for horrified gasps) as those in front, followed by those behind them, took in the shocking scene. Shimmering in the light cast by hanging torches, on the wall between two windows, were daubed, foot-high, the words, "THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE." Hanging underneath and upside down, from a torch bracket, was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring. Beneath her, on the floor, was a large puddle of water, reflecting everything on the wall.
The mass of students pressed forward to see the grisly sight, until someone shouted through the quiet. "Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
It was Draco Malfoy. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat. Harry groaned, upset that despite warnings and being on guard, the Malfoy plot (whatever it was) had still managed to somehow be carried out (or at least part of it) at Hogwarts.
"What's going on here? What's going on?" Attracted no doubt by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. He cast his popping eyes around, looking for a culprit.
Luckily, Professor Dumbledore, followed by a number of the other teachers, appeared on the scene. After an examination of Mrs. Norris, he removed her from the torch bracket. "Calm down, Argus, she's only Petrified. Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."
"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep-"
"Excuse me," interrupted Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."
There were a few nervous titters at this from some of the students and Dumbledore announced, "Don't worry, I will look into this matter to see how this could have happened and take steps to put an end to it. Now, could you all please follow your prefects to your respective common rooms?"
The students did as told, whispering to each other as they speculated to what could have happened. The AA managed to give the other students the slip and went straightway to the Room of Requirement. It provided them with a large room containing sixteen beds and sixteen comfortable chairs around a large circular table, with two bathrooms off to one side.
"Okay," said Hermione once they were all seated. "Let's list the facts." A movable blackboard with chalk and erasers appeared next to the table and she got up to start writing, speaking as she did so. "One, Mrs. Norris is found Petrified and hanging by her tail from a torch bracket in the corridor near the Great Hall. Two, painted on the wall above her are the words 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE'. Three, there was a large water puddle on the floor beneath the cat. Four, Draco Malfoy pushed forward and repeated the last sentence on the wall and added, 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' Five, Professor Dumbledore examines Mrs. Norris, reveals that she's only Petrified, and that it will be investigated."
Once she was done, Hermione sat down again and the AA mulled things over. "We were near Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Lavender pointed out. "The puddle probably came from there. Myrtle was likely upset about something, as usual, and flooded the bathroom."
The other girls agreed with her and the AA decided that the water puddle likely wasn't important to Mrs. Norris's Petrification. "Well, I'm curious as to what Draco's involvement in this is," Theodore said. "He was at the feast, so he couldn't have Petrified Filch's cat, but he seemed rather happy about seeing it. If Dumbledore hadn't shown up, Filch might have seized on Draco as a culprit and accused him of being behind it all."
"The writing said that the Chamber of Secrets was opened," Justin said. "What's that?"
"Supposedly when Hogwarts was built, Salazar Slytherin had added a secret chamber to the castle that only he knew about," Tracey said. She concentrated in thought for a couple of seconds and a copy of Hogwarts, a History appeared on the table. She flipped through the first couple of chapters of the book, stopping at the relevant section, and read out loud about the legend of the Chamber of Secrets and Salazar Slytherin's falling-out with the other three Founders and his subsequent departure from the school.
"There's a rumor that the Chamber of Secrets was opened once before, about fifty years ago," said Neville when Tracey was done reading. "My Gran said something about it, and she went to Hogwarts around that time."
"So let's assume that Slytherin's secret chamber is real," said Terry. "Does that mean his descendant, or should I say Heir, is here at Hogwarts and somehow opened it again?"
"That would mean that Tom Riddle is somehow at Hogwarts," Harry pointed out. "Professor Vicks, I mean Eric, did some investigating for Aunt Lia and Uncle Sirius and found out that Riddle is descended from Slytherin. Riddle's mother was a Gaunt, and way back when, the Gaunts had married one of Slytherin's female descendants."
"Oh," said the others, and then Ron asked, "Could Riddle be controlling someone to open the Chamber for him? Dad told me about the Imperius Curse and Riddle could have somehow cast it on a student or staff member to do his bidding, since it's not likely he can get in by possessing a teacher again."
"I don't know if he could do that, but he could be controlling someone in a different manner," Padma said. "Or perhaps he revealed how to open it to Mr. Malfoy at some point, and that's the plot that Dobby was warning us about, that the Malfoys are working to get the Chamber of Secrets opened again."
"That's more likely," said Hannah. "But how does that lead to Mrs. Norris being Petrified? The legend says that there's a monster in the Chamber of Secrets, but what kind of monster, assuming that part of the legend is real, could cause Petrification?"
"Hmm, I know Gorgons can Petrify beings, or turn them into stone," said Daphne thoughtfully. "However, their lifespan isn't anywhere close to a thousand years, so if Salazar Slytherin had hidden one in his chamber, it would be long dead by now. So the monster has to be something else."
Since none of them had any idea as to what the supposed monster could be, they decided to do some research in the library tomorrow (or rather, later today, when Susan pointed out that it was after midnight). Since it was now Sunday, they would have the whole day available to devote to the research. Harry finally remembered that he should probably tell his godparents what was going on and pulled out the two-way mirror from his pocket. Luckily for him, Lia and Sirius were awake, as they'd just finished tending Matt when he'd woken up over needing his nappy changed and gotten him back to sleep.
Harry explained about Mrs. Norris's Petrification and the writing on the wall, and upon Daphne's reminder, added the two instances where he'd heard a voice talking about ripping and killing but his friends hadn't heard anything. "Hmm, I'll talk with Professor Dumbledore about it later today," Sirius said. "We'll see if we can figure out what's going on."
"And I'll have Eric look into the legend of the Chamber of Secrets and the rumor about it being opened once before," said Lia. "Now, please don't do anything rash, okay? Harry and Theodore, let the adults handle it for the time being. As for the rest of the AA, I'm not your parent or guardian or teacher, so I have no control over you guys, but I would like to request that you do the same. Though if you want to help in the research department, I have no objection."
The AA promised that they wouldn't do anything rash and just limit it to research, and then bid Sirius and Lia good-night and Harry ended the call. Since it was getting late and they couldn't speculate more without further information, the group got ready for sleep in the beds that the Room had provided for them.