Chapter Six: The Meaning of the Word
On Saturday morning, very early in the morning, Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, led his team down to the Quidditch field to train, and for Riley to try out for the team. He carried his Silver Arrow over his shoulder as he marched alongside Harry and the rest of the team to the field.
"Now, Riley, mind you, you might not get to play even if you do make it on the team." Oliver reminded the new recruit.
"I'll be a happy man if I can play at least once." said Riley.
"When did you become a man?" asked Fred.
"Last I checked, you were twelve." agreed George.
Riley stared at the twins for a moment, then looked at Harry.
"And I thought Tony was bad." he muttered to him.
"Before we return to business, just a reminder to our Beaters: Don't scare the trainee today, you two." Oliver announced to his teammates.
"Killjoy." muttered Fred and George.
The Gryffindor team captain cleared his throat again, gaining his team's undivided attention.
"Now, I spent the summer devising a whole new Quidditch program," he declared. "We're gonna train earlier, harder, and longer."
"Now you're scaring me." grinned Riley.
Oliver made to retort, but something had caught his eye.
"What? I don't believe it." he muttered, irritated.
The rest of the team followed his gaze, and saw several Slytherin students dressed in their Quidditch robes, marching into the courtyard.
"Where do you think you're going, Flint?" demanded Oliver.
"Quidditch practice." replied Flint, the Slytherin team captain.
The two teams stopped in the middle of the courtyard to face each other.
"I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today." Oliver told his rival.
"Easy, Wood." Flint retorted, holding out a note. "I've got a note."
Riley saw Tony standing at the side of the team, holding onto his broomstick, looking irritated.
"Trying out, too, Tony?" he asked.
"Thanks to Prof. Snape I'm able to." replied Tony. "They almost didn't let me try out 'cause I'm Muggleborn."
Oliver shot Flint a glare for a moment before starting to read the note he had. The people outside of Slytherin House didn't believe in discrimination towards non-Purebloods, and only a handful of Slytherin weren't discriminative. While Oliver read the note, Hermione and Ron walked toward the teams to see what was going on.
"'I, Professor Severus Snape, do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practice today, owing to the need to train their new Seeker and reserve player.'" Oliver read, before looking up at Flint. "You've got a new Seeker. Who? Gabriel?"
Tony shook his head, grimacing, and stepped to the side. Draco Malfoy stepped forward from the group of Slytherin students, smirking.
"Malfoy?" Harry groaned, disbelievingly.
"And the hits just keep on coming." Riley grumbled, annoyed.
"That's right." agreed Draco. "And that's not all that's new this year."
He and the other members of his team, aside from Tony, held out their brooms for all to see. Ron squinted at the words etched into the top, and gasped in surprise.
"Those are Nimbus 2001s." he breathed. "How did you get those?"
"A gift from Draco's father." replied Flint.
Riley narrowed his eyes at Draco. He should've known when he saw him and his father coming out of the shop the day he and Tony went to purchase their equipment and brooms.
"You see, Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best." Draco bragged, smiling. "Potter's Nimbus 2000, Cross' Silver Arrow, and Gabriel's Moontrimmer may be fast, but our brooms will leave them all into the dust."
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in." Hermione retorted, looking back at him. "They got in on pure talent, as I imagine even Tony could."
Tony smiled at her in appreciation, and several of the Gryffindors laughed. Hermione had won that round. Draco merely glared at her, and walked over to her.
"No one asked your opinion,...you filthy little Mudblood." he spat.
Harry watched as Hermione stared back at the Slytherin boy, angry. Behind him, Riley made to charge at Draco, but was caught by Fred and George, who told him to calm down. Tony looked as if he wanted to murder his teammate, but instead restrained himself. Ron, on the other hand, did something about it. He took out his wand, not taking his eyes off of Draco, and pointed it at him.
"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy." Ron declared, angrily. "Eat slugs!"
Before anyone could stop him, the curse backfired in the wand, and blasted it's owner. Ron was sent flying backwards to the ground on his back, and the Gryffindor team, Hermione, and Tony rushed over to him, as the Slytherin team started to laugh.
"Ron, are you okay?!" asked Hermione. "Say something!"
Ron, who appeared to be ill, slowly turned over and pushed himself up on all fours. His response came in the form of a slug that was belched out onto the ground. Colin pushed past the Gryffindor team, and held up the camera to take a picture of the scene.
"Wow! Can you turn him around, Harry?" he asked, excitedly.
"No, Colin!" Harry shouted, as he and Hermione helped Ron to his feet. "Get out of the way!"
He and Hermione decided to take their friend to Hagrid's and the two Quidditch teams watched as Ron was dragged away, burping up slugs. The Gryffindors and Tony looked at one another in concern, while the Slytherin team laughed.
"You think he'll be alright?" asked Tony.
"I hope so." replied Riley.
Oliver let out a sigh of defeat. Training was going to have to be put off for a while.
"Team, back to the dorms. We'll practice later." he announced. "Cross, go after Potter and Granger. Make sure Weasley gets help."
Riley nodded and took off, with Tony following after him.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Riley, and Tony sat in the hut, waiting for Hagrid to return. They explained the situation to the half-giant, and were told to come inside and have a seat, while he went to get something to help for now. Hagrid returned a few moments later with a bucket in his hands.
"This calls for a specialist's equipment." he announced, handing the bucket to Ron. "Nothing to do but wait till it stops, I'm afraid."
Ron burped up another slug in the bucket, making the others around him grimace.
"Better out than in." said Hagrid. "Who was Ron trying to curse anyway?"
"Malfoy." replied Harry. "He called Hermione..."
He trailed off, not thinking it was a good idea to say the word that Draco had said. Hermione looked down at the ground, her feelings still hurt, and Tony patted her on the back, comfortingly.
"Well, I don't know exactly what it means, but I've heard You-Know-Who call Tony and Riley it a couple of times last year." Harry explained, looking at Hermione.
Hermione stood up and walked to the side of the room, her back on her friends. She crossed her arms over her chest, as her eyes welled up with tears.
"He called me a 'Mudblood'." she stated.
Hagrid looked at the female Gryffindor in shock.
"He did not!" he growled.
"What's a Mudblood?" asked Harry.
Riley and Tony went to answer, but Hermione had turned back around to face her friends, and started to walk back towards them.
"It means 'dirty blood'." she replied. "Mudblood's a foul name for someone who's Muggleborn. Someone with non-magic parents. Someone like me, Riley, and Tony."
Harry looked between her, and Riley and Tony who nodded in confirmation.
"It's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation." Hermione finished, on the verge of crying.
"Basically, Harry, it's the equivalent of calling a black person the 'n' word." said Riley.
Harry nodded, starting to understand.
"See, the thing is, Harry, there are some wizards, like the Malfoy family who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call 'pureblood'." Hagrid explained, looking at him. "If I'm right, Tony here probably gets called that name everyday when Prof. Snape's back is turned."
Harry looked at Tony, who nodded in agreement, and stared back at Hagrid in horror.
"That's horrible!" he exclaimed.
At that moment, Ron belched up another slug, before looking up from his bucket.
"It's disgusting." he said.
"And it's codswallop to boot. Dirty blood." Hagrid agreed, rolling his eyes. "Why, there isn't a wizard alive today that's not half-blood or less. More to the point, they've yet to think of a spell that our Hermione can't do."
Hermione, who by that point had tears rolling down her face, was beckoned over to Hagrid, who smiled warmly at her.
"Don't you think on it, Hermione." Hagrid told her. "Don't you think on it for one minute."
Hermione smiled back at him, feeling much better.
That evening, while Harry and Ron went off to serve their detentions, Hermione, Tony, and Riley went off to the Great Hall for dinner. Earlier that day, after leaving Hagrid's, Harry, Riley, and Tony headed to the Quidditch field to train with their teams. Tony, who had applied for the Keeper's position of his team, was put through a tougher training regimen than Draco was, but with the support of his friends, he made it through without failing a save. Riley, who applied for a Beater's position, did great at keeping the bludgers away from his teammates, and aimed them towards the enemy players. Unfortunately, Riley did not make the team, but was kept as a reserve Beater, while Tony was benched even though he did a great job at protecting the goals.
"All that hard work." groaned Tony. "Why couldn't I have been placed in another House?"
"Maybe it's not too late to switch?" Riley offered.
"Unfortunately, once you're placed in a House, you're there until you graduate." Hermione told him.
Tony let out a strangled growl, causing his friends to look at him. They couldn't blame him. Most of the people in his House looked down on people like the three of them. And speaking of Muggleborns, Colin hurried towards them, his camera in his hands.
"Hi, guys!" he greeted.
"Hi, Colin." responded Hermione.
"Where are Harry and Ron?"
"Serving detention." replied Tony. "Where, I don't know."
Colin nodded, a little disappointed. As the four of them made their way to the Great Hall, Hermione spotted Luna standing by the wall.
"Look, Riley, it's your girlfriend." she teased, looking at Riley.
"Hermione,-" Riley started, glaring at her.
Luna appeared to have heard him, because she looked over at them, smiling. Riley waved at her, and walked towards her.
"What are you doing here, Luna?" he asked.
"Same thing you are, I suppose." replied Luna.
A flash hit her eyes, and Riley turned to look at Colin, who had snapped a picture of them. Hermione and Tony smiled, not objecting to it.
"I've been meaning to ask, Colin, how much film does that camera have?" asked Riley.
"Plenty to last the whole year." replied Colin.
Riley groaned inwardly, making a mental note to tell Harry. After dinner was over, which Ron had arrived at during some point, Hermione, Ron, Riley, and Tony went to go retrieve Harry from his detention with Prof. Lockhart. They soon found Harry walking along the wall, pressing his ear against it.
"Harry!" Hermione called out to him.
Harry looked up at them, alarmed.
"Did you hear it?" he asked.
His friends looked at him, confused and worried.
"Hear what?" asked Ron.
"That voice." replied Harry.
"Voice?" Hermione asked, fear lacing her voice. "What voice?"
Riley looked up at the ceiling, while Tony pressed his own ear against the wall, straining to hear what Harry was referring to.
"I heard it first in Lockhart's office." Harry told them. "And then again just-"
He trailed off in mid sentence, his eyes going back up towards the ceiling.
"It's moving." he whispered. "I think it's going to kill."
Before anyone could stop him, Harry took off down the hall, his friends following after him.
"Kill?" Ron repeated, looking at him.
"Harry, wait!" Hermione called, chasing after her friend. "Not so fast!"
Ron, Riley, and Tony hurried after her and Harry instantly, chasing their friends down the hall.
"What does it sound like?" asked Tony.
"And why can't we hear it?" added Riley.
Harry suddenly stopped at the intersection, and looked from side to side before walking down the right hallway. The others followed behind him, and the five of them saw that the hallway was flooded with water.
"What happened here?" asked Riley.
"Maybe a pipe burst." replied Tony.
The five Second Years finally came to a halt when Harry raised an arm to stop his friends. They followed his gaze to the wall on the left, and saw several small spiders fleeing up the wall toward the window.
"Strange." whispered Harry. "I've never seen spiders act like that."
"I don't like spiders." muttered Ron.
"And I don't like snakes." Tony said, looking at him. "But we have to deal."
Hermione looked at Riley, raising an eyebrow.
"Rattlesnake accident." the latter explained.
"Can't be as bad as having your teddy bear turned into a giant spider." Ron retorted.
"Knock it off." sighed Hermione.
Ron then noticed something in the puddle of water at their feet.
"What's that?" he asked.
Tony looked from the puddle to the wall around the corner. A message was painted on it in red.
"Holy Hell." he whispered.
"'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.'" Hermione read, shakily. "'Enemies of the heir...beware.'"
Tony stepped forward cautiously, and wiped at part of message with his index finger, then sniffed at the red paint that came off on it.
"Iron." he muttered.
"It's written in blood." Hermione realized, fearfully.
"But whose?" asked Riley.
Nobody answered. Harry's attention was focused on something else.
"Oh, no." he gasped.
The others followed his gaze, and saw Mrs. Norris, the old cat who belonged to the caretaker, Argus Filch, hanging from a torch by her tail. Riley stepped forward to inspect the animal, and checked for vital signs. To his surprise, the cat was alive. Tony walked over beside him, his face etched in shock and horror.
"Time of death?" he asked.
"She's not dead, Tony." Riley whispered to him. "But it's so bizarre."
Behind them, they heard footsteps marching towards the group. From both sides, students arrived at the scene. Draco looked up at the message, and scoffed.
"'Enemies of the Heir, beware.'" he read.
He looked over at Harry and his friends, smirking.
"You'll be next, Mudbloods." he declared.
Tony felt his jaw set, he felt his anger surge, and pointed at his Housemate.
"Malfoy, so help me-" he started.
He was cut off by another's shouting.
"What's going on here?" Filch's voice called. "Go on! Make way, make way!"
Filch pushed through the crowd of students who were standing where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Tony, and Riley had come from, and looked at Harry.
"Potter?" he called. "What are you-"
Filch stopped in his interrogation when his eyes spotted Mrs. Norris' form hanging from the torch, with Riley and Tony standing nearby it.
"Mrs. Norris?" he gasped, shocked.
Sadness filled the old man's eyes for a moment, then they filled with growing rage when they fell on Harry.
"You've murdered my cat." Filch declared, quietly.
Tony marched forward and tried to pull Harry back from the man, who began to advance on them.
"No. No." Harry spoke, trying to prove his innocence.
"I'll kill you." Filch stated, calmly.
"Filch, listen," Riley intervened, hurrying to jump between him and Harry and Tony. "She's not dead! I checked!"
Filch did not listen. He reached out and grabbed Harry's collar, jerking on it.
"I'll kill you!" he shouted.
Tony's hand went to his robes, aiming to whip out his wand if he needed to defend his friends. Suddenly, a new voice called out.
"Argus!" Prof. Dumbledore shouted.
He, Prof. McGonagall, Prof. Snape, and Prof. Lockhart walked towards the scene through the sea of Slytherin.
"Argus, I..." the headmaster started.
He stopped when he noticed Mrs. Norris the message on the wall. The students were then dismissed to their dormitories, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Riley tried to follow after their fellow Gryffindor, while Tony went after the rest of Slytherin House, but were told to stay behind.
"She's not dead, Argus." Prof. Dumbledore reassured the caretaker. "She has been Petrified."
"Ah, thought so!" Prof. Lockhart exclaimed, smiling. "So unlucky I wasn't there. I know exactly the countercurse that could've spared her."
Harry, Ron, and Riley felt an immense urge to roll their eyes. Meanwhile, Tony looked up at the school headmaster.
"Now hold on, how do we even know that she's been cursed?" he asked. "I mean, doesn't it take quite a powerful Dark spell to do that?"
"Good observation, Mr. Gabriel, and you're right. It would've taken a powerful wizard to pull that off." replied Prof. Dumbledore. "But it may not have been a curse. How she has been Petrified, I cannot say."
"Ask him!" Filch barked, nodding at Harry. "It's him that's done it! You saw what he wrote on the wall!"
"It's not true, sir!" Harry argued, quickly. "I swear! I never touched Mrs. Norris!"
"Rubbish!"
Prof. Snape then decided to settle the argument.
"If I might, headmaster?" he offered. "Perhaps Potter and his friends were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
His statement defending Harry threw the five students for a loop. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another, while Tony and Riley stared at their professor, confused. It was very unlike him to suddenly support Harry like this.
"However,...the circumstances are suspicious." he added, walking forward. "I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter at dinner."
"I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus." Prof. Lockhart countered, raising a hand. "You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail."
"That's why Ron, Riley, Tony, and I went looking for him, professor." Hermione threw in. "We'd just found him when he said..."
She stopped, suddenly. Prof. Snape looked at her, waiting for her to finish.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" he asked.
"When I said I wasn't hungry." replied Harry. "We were heading back to the common room when we found Mrs. Norris."
Prof. Snape stared at him for a moment, then slowly turned to look at Prof. Dumbledore.
"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus." the latter decided.
That was not good enough for Filch.
"My cat has been Petrified." he reminded them. "I want to see some punishment!"
"I believe we went over this already." Prof. Dumbledore told him. "Mr. Gabriel made an interesting point. It would've taken a powerful Dark curse to Petrify Mrs. Norris, and Second Year students are not yet capable of such magic. We will be able to cure her, Argus. As I understand it, Madam Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrake. When matured, a potion will be made which will revive Mrs. Norris. And in the meantime,..."
He stopped to look at the five students, who were still standing nearby.
"...I strongly recommend caution...to all." he finished.
Prof. Snape was then allowed to escort Tony back to his dormitory, while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Riley were sent back to the Gryffindor tower. Once reaching the staircases, Hermione addressed her friends.
"It's a bit strange, isn't it?" she asked.
"Strange?" Harry repeated, confused.
"You hear this voice, a voice only you can hear, and then Mrs. Norris turns up Petrified? It's just strange."
"Do you think I should have told them? Dumbledore and the others, I mean?"
"Are you mad?!" demanded Ron.
"Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. McGonagall might look into it, the rest will just think you've lost it." Riley told his friend.
"No, Harry. Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign."
Hermione continued walking up the stairs, leaving her friends to linger behind her. A man in a painting beside where Harry's head was looked at him with a shrug.
"She's right, you know." he said.
Disclaimer: I own just the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys, you get it. 'kay? Cool. Catch you later.