So many chapters! I should really be working on my writing camp story, seeing as this week is my last to do so before it gets 'published'. Anyway, this is not the story I should be writing right now, but details, details.
Binns's story about the chamber is, of course, shamelessly copied from the book, as are several other smaller parts. Why is Dobby so hard to write? I have no idea how he talks.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Supernatural.
Hermione slammed down her books at the table next morning. Michael jumped, and it was only Gabriel's years of experience in keeping himself neutral that prevented him from doing the same.
"All of the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out of the library!" She said, scowling slightly. "And there's a two-week waiting list."
"Don't you have your own copy?" Gabriel asked, scrawling another sentence onto a History of Magic essay that he was completely making up, much like last year's written exam.
"Yes, but I had to leave it at home," Hermione sighed. "It wouldn't fit in my trunk with all the Lockhart books."
"Why do you need it so badly?"
"Honestly, Michael!" Hermione exclaimed, whirling around on the Ravenclaw. "The same reason everyone else wants it! To read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets!"
Gabriel frowned. Now that she mentioned it, he vaguely remembered reading about the place last year when he'd been looking for a clue as to the whereabouts of Muriel's secret room.
"What is it?" Michael asked.
"I don't remember," said Hermione in frustration. "That's the thing. I know I've read about it somewhere..." She suddenly caught a glimpse of Gabriel's paper. "How long is that?"
"Uh-" Bewildered, Gabriel borrowed Michael's measuring tape and stretched his parchment out. "Two feet?"
"Harry! We're suppose to have three feet! And History of Magic is next!"
"You've got History of Magic next," Gabriel corrected her. "I've got it first thing tomorrow."
"You've still only done two feet?" Michael looked surprised as well. "I thought you were working on the homework Snape gave us."
"The what?"
Hermione looked torn between a desire to help Gabriel and a desire to beat him over the head with the thickest textbook within reach.
History of Magic was as boring as usual, Binns droning on in front of the class. Gabriel's presence didn't even phase him - he just kept talking as the students draped themselves artfully over desks, usually at least half-asleep.
This class, though, something was different.
Another Ravenclaw - Mandy something - was raising her hand. Binns didn't seem to notice, but eventually when most of the class was looking at her rather than listening it seemed to catch his attention. He stopped in the middle of a fatally boring lecture on the International something of the year who cares.
"Yes, Miss Brandywine?"
"I was wondering if you knew anything about the chamber of secrets," she said boldly.
That certainly got everyone's attention. They all started looking between her and Binns, Gabriel among them. He was sure he'd read about the place before, but details other than the fact that it was a secret room of Slytherin's escaped him.
Binns actually looked slightly irritated. "The Chamber of Secrets is a legend," he informed them stiffly. "I deal with History of Magic, not myths but facts." He began to go back to the lecture when Mandy raised her hand again.
"Please, sir - don't legends always have a certain basis in fact?"
Binns looked about to refuse her, when he looked around properly and saw that he had the entire class's attention for once. "Very well," he said. "The Chamber of... let me see..."
"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago - the exact date is uncertain - by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age," And one angel, Gabriel thought to himself.
"The four school houses are named after them - Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by the common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.
"For a few years, the Founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school.
"Reliable sources tell us this much, but these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin built a hidden chamber in the castle-" Of course he did, they all did. "-Of which the other Founders knew nothing.
"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all those who were unworthy to study magic."
Binns carried on, but Gabriel ignored him, turning the story over in his mind. Slytherin had, no doubt, built a secret chamber - Muriel's letter attested to that. The 'monster' might have been left as some sort of guard originally, and the bit about only the heir being able to get in made sense. Even his bias against Muggelborns was understandable when you looked at it from a historical viewpoint.
The wizards had been persecuted by the non-magicals - obviously, any magical child from Muggle parents would willingly tell their parents about the school and where it was, having been taught to believe that magic was the devil's work. Either Slytherin was rather paranoid, or he was just an asshole.
Without any method of knowing for sure save actually going back in time [and even he couldn't go back that far on his own] Gabriel decided to leave that particular debate for another time, and instead concentrate on the Chamber.
He knew it existed, but a warning he remembered from Muriel's letter distracted him.
'The other Founder's halls are their own secrets, and unless you are decreed worthy of their House leave those secrets be until the right one comes along.'
He might have been worried about that, had his own hasty intervention not been the only thing keeping him from being Sorted into Slytherin. Gabriel figured that that counted as being 'decreed worthy'.
Now all that was left was to find the place.
And he was running on even fewer clues than last time.
Was this going to be a theme?
"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Michael asked as ne and Gabriel went on to their next class, which was Transfiguration.
"Why not?" Gabriel shrugged. "Certainly plenty of places it could be. It's not like anyone's mapped out the school."
"I suppose," Michael said. "It's a bit far fetched, though. I mean, a secret chamber with a monster in it that only one person can release? Sounds like something out of one of the Muggle books my mum's always reading."
They turned the corner and found themselves in the corridor where the message had been written. It was still there, dark red as ever - which made Gabriel inclined to think it was paint, as blood would have turned brown by now - but much less ominous now that pale sunlight was streaming onto it through a window.
Michael kept nir eyes on it as they walked past. "I wonder who did it, though," ne said. "Must have been one of the students - I can't imagine the teachers doing anything like this."
"I think everyone's blaming the Slytherins, honestly," remarked Gabriel. "Bit stupid, though. Who says the heir is in that house?"
"Where else would they be?" Michael was looking at him in surprise.
"Come on," said Gabriel. "Even to a first-year it's obvious that no one likes the Slytherins." He remembered his own Sorting. "Anyone with a bit of actual cunning would get themselves Sorted into a different House. And even if they're descended from Slytherin that's no guarantee that they're cunning at all, or even ambitious."
Michael's expression had changed to one of thoughtfulness. "I didn't think of that."
"I might be the only one who has."
Gabriel refrained from attending the first quidditch game of the season - Gryffindor versus Slytherin - on the grounds that he didn't care and that it was miserable outside. Michael rolled nir eyes at that, but Hermione was perfectly willing to stay in and nag Gabriel about the homework he hadn't yet finished.
"Oh, give it a break just once, Hermione," Gabriel complained, wishing that Draco was still inside the school so he could finally ask him about his happiness on Halloween. "We've got an entire free period!"
"And you've got an entire Potions essay to write," she said severely.
"I can do that later!"
"You've been saying that all week!"
Eventually Gabriel managed to escape to the library and pretend he was studying. He spend all of three minutes in there before heading for the east hall.
Maybe Muriel had written down the locations of these 'secret rooms'.
There was no way it was going to be that easy, though.
The door creaked open and Gabriel once again slid down the railing before reaching the bottom. He remembered where the door into the room was, and it creaked open at his touch, his faded signature still visible on the parchment. The room was exactly as he had remembered it.
"Aright," Gabriel spoke into the dusty air. "Let's see what this place has to say about old Slytherin."
As soon as he spoke, Gabriel was forced to duck - several volumes had plucked themselves off the shelf and come sailing towards him. They landed on the floor with dusty thumps, and as Gabriel turned around in shock he saw that neither had titles.
"Some sort of retrieval system?" He mused, picking up all three books and looking around for a table. Gabriel settled for clearing the desk off carefully instead when none were in sight, removing the journal and placing it carefully on top of some stacked parchment. "Handy. Now, what do we have here..."
The first book was a handwritten version of what amounted to an attendance log of students and staff.
"This is not helpful," grumbled Gabriel, putting it aside. It jumped out of his hands and flew back to the shelf.
The second book he tried was a little more helpful, but it was just a mix of Binn's story and what Muriel had written; each of the Founders had left their own room behind with some sort of guardian, and it was rumored that Slytherin had done a little bit more than that.
"I already know this," Gabriel groaned as he closed that one too. "Is there anything in here that isn't a repetition of something I've already heard?" Luckily, none of the books jumped off the shelf at that.
The third book was the thickest yet, and Gabriel didn't fancy flipping through it to try and find where it mentioned Slytherin. "Is there anything in here about the other secret rooms?" He asked aloud. Nothing moved.
"Of course." Gabriel shoved the chair back irritably, opening the book to a random page. "I suppose I'll have to track down the Slytherin common room and see if whatever guards it has got anything."
"Well, at least if I find Draco I can get two birds with one stone." Gabriel glanced down at the book in irritation when something caught his eye.
"Hold on, Slytherin could speak to snakes?"
Gabriel didn't bother trying to find him immediately, since obviously Draco was playing in the Quidditch game, and instead explored the room a little more. Later, once the game had ended, his attempt started.
It wasn't like Gabriel knew the Slytherin timetable and he did have his own classes but come on, it had to be easier than this! There was a time when he could have charmed a second-year out of her schedule and gotten the information an an hour later. Gabriel blamed it on being trapped in a twelve-year-old body. He was also quite distracted with what he'd learned about Parseltounge, and wondering why his vessel of all people possessed the talent.
Something else happened, however, that took his mind completely off Malfoy and snake-language.
Gabriel woke up in the middle of the night because something small was standing on him.
"What the- you!" It was Dobby. Gabriel had to struggle to keep his voice down. "What are you doing here?"
The house elf was wide eyed. "Harry Potter sir came back to school...Dobby warned him not to..."
"Yes, I came back here, you insane creature. What the hell are you doing here?" Gabriel hissed.
Dobby didn't answer, instead choosing to shift silently on the bed.
"You were going to do something to try and convince me to leave, weren't you?"
"Dobby is sorry," the house elf said quietly.
"I don't suppose you'd like to tell me why you want me sent back so badly?"
"Aah," the house elf almost wailed, and Gabriel hurried to shush him. "If only Harry Potter knew! How great was the day when You-Know-Who was defeated! How things improved so much for us when the darkness was gone! And now at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, or perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here when history is repeating itself and the chamber of secrets is open once more."
Gabriel's hand locked in an iron grip around Dobby's arm. "Open once more?" Gabriel repeated. "You're saying that this has happened before?"
"Harry Potter must not meddle in this," the house elf muttered, trying vainly to free his arm and looking panicked, as if he'd said something he shouldn't have. "Harry Potter must go home where he is safe-"
"Harry?" Someone sleepily muttered. The house elf froze, and then vanished with a pop.
"What?" Gabriel said back, trying to keep a lid on his irritation.
"I thought I heard you talking."
"To who?" Gabriel asked dryly. "Go back to sleep, you're dreaming."
There was no more talking and Gabriel stared angrily at the spot where Dobby had disappeared, wondering who had opened it the first time.
Michael was enthralled when Gabriel told nir what had happened last night. "It's been opened before?"
"Apparently."
"When?"
"I don't know!" Gabriel threw his hands up. "He just said 'history is repeating itself' and then he left before I could ask anything else."
"What do you think's in the chamber anyway?" Michael mused.
"No idea." Gabriel glanced back down at the book he was supposed to be reading and wondered if Hermione would actually murder him if he left it for later. "Suppose some sort of snake thing, that being the crest and all."
"Did you hear what happened?" Hermione sat down next to them, interrupting their conversation. Gabriel hadn't heard her coming.
"What?" Michael looked bewildered.
"Someone else has been petrified!"
"They've been what?" Gabriel asked blankly.
"Petrified," Hermione repeated. "Like Filch's cat! On Halloween!"
Michael glanced at Gabriel with slight horror in nir eyes. "A person?"
"Someone in Gryffindor." Hermione informed them. "I think it was a first-year - you know, that kid who's always going around with a camera."
"Oh, him." Gabriel glanced over at the Gryffindor table - sure enough, there was no sign of the usual flash of someone taking pictures. Gabriel wondered what the kid had done to deserved getting petrified.
The news of the attack, though, spread through Hogwarts more quickly than Gabriel had imagined possible. Rumors and other ridiculous suspicions were rife, thickening the air and making students travel in small groups as opposed to on their own.
Hidden from the teachers, a roaring trade in talismans and other sorts of protective charms sprung up, and Gabriel had to stop Michael from buying a strange purple crystal which possessed absolutely no power and looked like something from a hippie Muggle shop.
"You're a half-blood," Gabriel said scathingly as he dragged Michael away, "Not a Muggleborn! For d-Pete's sake, what did you want that for?"
"It's just in case," Michael protested halfheartedly.
"Just in case of what, you get mistaken for being 'unworthy'?"
"Maybe!"
"You're an idiot, Michael." Gabriel said bluntly. "And you're not going to be attacked." Not as long as I'm around.
Christmas, Gabriel decided, would be the perfect time to corner Draco. He'd seen the Slytherin's name on the list when he signed up to stay over the holidays like he'd done last year. Hermione would be going home again, and this year Michael would as well - something they both looked guilty about until Gabriel told them to stop worrying about it. After that, they only looked guilty when they thought he wasn't looking.
Hermione almost wrote home to ask if she could stay over the holidays, but when Gabriel asked her if she really wanted to spend time with her friend over having Christmas with her parents, she reluctantly agreed with his point. Besides, in the meantime until the holiday started, Christmas was pulled from their minds by news.
"A duelling club?"
Michael had told them the news at breakfast, since Gabriel hadn't noticed it when he came down. Hermione seemed to know already, but she listened patiently as Michael spoke.
"D'you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" He said disbelievingly. "Still, it might be worth a shot-"
"Not if Lockhart's teaching," Gabriel muttered, which made Hermione look at him disapprovingly.
"I don't get why you-"
"Come off it, Hermione, the first quiz we got in class was on his favorite color."
Gabriel watched in mixed amusement and surprise that Hermione actually liked the guy as Hermione blushed slightly and muttered something under her breath.
"Let's just go see what this Duelling club is," she said irritably.
It turned out to be an absolute mess.
Lockhart was teaching it, and Gabriel almost left there and then, except for the grip Michael had on his arm to stop him from doing exactly that.
"Come on, let go."
"No way. I'm gonna suffer through him and so are you. We might actually learn something."
"From him?"
Snape had climbed up onto the stage as well, lip curled in his customary sneer.
"Let's just hope they finish each other off," Gabriel whispered to Michael.
Snape looked about ready to do so; Gabriel got the feeling he disliked Lockhart as much as the rest of them. He and Lockhart were holding their wands like swords in front of them, and Lockhart was going on some ramble about proper duel etiquette, and how they would cast non-lethal spells only.
Gabriel snorted - rules and regulations were for court knights who could barely hold their own in a real fight where their opponent wouldn't play by the rules. Gabriel had once won a small bit of land like that once, but he hadn't been able to enjoy it as the knight he'd beaten had promptly burnt it down in a fit of anger at how he'd lost the fight. It had been rather rude of him. Gabriel shook himself out of his thoughts as Snape and Lockhart simultaneously cast spells at each other.
Lockhart was blasted off his feet. He went sailing backwards off the stage and hit the wall hard, sliding down into the crowd. Several people cheered. Hermione was on tiptoes, trying to see if he was alright.
Unfortunately Lockhart appeared to be perfectly fine, staggering to his feet after a few seconds and saying some nonsense about how he knew exactly what Snape was going to do.
"Enough demonstrating!" He eventually called out. "I'm going to come around and put you all into pairs...Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me..."
Snape looked as though helping Lockhart was the last thing on his mind, but he moved into the crowd anyway. Gabriel partnered with Michael, and they both waited around for everyone else to get sorted into pairs. Snape swept by and eyed them critically, but he didn't say anything.
"Face your partners!" Lockhart called out. "And...bow!"
Michael actually bowed slightly, but Gabriel just rolled his eyes and stayed exactly where he was. Not that he was trying to be rude to Michael, but the idea of actually listening to Lockhart rubbed him the wrong way.
"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent-" You haven't taught us anything dickwad- "-Only to disarm them! Ready? Three - two - one-"
Absolute chaos would probably be the best word to describe what had happened. Obviously, disarming charms were not the only spells being used. Michael had probably used one, but Gabriel couldn't hear what he'd said over the collective shout and sidestepped it, oohing in sympathy as it hit whoever was behind him and their wand went spinning out of their hand.
Someone had conjured a lot of green smoke, which hung hazily over the scene. Hermione had ducked away from her partner, who was attempting to put the Gryffindor in a headlock. Someone had picked up their partner and was apologizing for the result of whatever spell had been used.
"Well this all looks wonderful," said Gabriel sarcastically as he watched someone be cursed with uncontrollable dancing. "Really, a wonderful idea. Remind me why I didn't leave again? Oh yeah." He cast a meaningful look at Michael, who was ignoring him.
"Enough!" Lockhart shouted. Snape, standing on the other side of the room with a truly impressive sneer, was far more effective at making everyone quiet down. "Er - perhaps a practice demonstration duel would be better? Longbottom, yes-"
"That would be a bad idea," said Snape silkily. "You'll be sending whatever's left of his opponent to the hospital wing. Longbottom has a tendency to...mangle his work."
Gabriel thought this was rather unfair, as Snape was a Potions teacher and most likely had never seen 'Longbottom' perform a spell. Snape continued on, unaware of the mental workings of the person standing three feet from him. "How about Malfoy, and...Potter?"
Great.
"Excellent," said Lockhart, sounding relieved, and gesturing for Gabriel to step into the center of the room. The students around them quickly backed away to make room, and Gabriel found himself facing Draco across an empty stretch of stone.
Lockhart tried to give him some advice and instead dropped his wand, causing snickers to come from the Slytherin side of the room. Gabriel ignored him, instead watching Draco with a slight frown.
Snape swept closer to Draco and whispered something in his ear, smirking slightly as he backed away. Strangely enough, Draco wasn't smirking.
"Three - two - one - go!"
"Expelliarmus!" Draco shouted, and again Gabriel neatly stepped out of the way. The spell hit Lockhart who, for the second time today, was sent reeling backwards.
Gabriel flicked the spell off his own wand while everyone was distracted with Lockhart, and hit Draco unawares. The boy watched with an expression of incredulity as Gabriel neatly caught his wand, pocketing both of them.
"You know, I think I win."
"Return Mr. Malfoy's wand, Potter," Snape said tightly, sending a look at Draco. Gabriel handed over the polished stick willingly.
"This is a duel," Draco said as he came closer to retrieve it. "You're supposed to play by the rules!"
"And where did following the rules get you?" asked Gabriel lightly. "By the way," he lowered his voice. "Could we talk later?"
Draco looked confused. "Talk?"
"Yes. Kind of like what we're doing now, minus the audience. Outside the Great Hall, over break, what do you say?" Gabriel grinned and left before Draco could reply. He had a feeling the Slytherin would show up.
Gabriel was walking back up to Ravenclaw tower to get his books for the next class - he'd forgotten to bring them to the period before - when he heard the same hissing voice from ages ago, echoing in the walls.
Let me rip...tear...
Gabriel jumped ever so slightly and glanced around hurriedly, but there was nothing in sight. The voice began to fade away, like it was going farther from him, and as Gabriel tried to follow it he eventually came around a corner and saw the strangest sight.
Maybe strange wasn't the right word.
Slightly horrifying would have been better.
A Hufflepuff boy was lying on the floor, rigid, a look of shock frozen on his face. He was positioned oddly, as if he'd been standing when he was frozen and then been pushed over backwards. But it was the figure of Nearly Headless Nick, who was floating motionlessly in front of him, that actually spooked Gabriel a bit.
The ghost was no longer silvery but black and smokelike, reminding Gabriel unpleasantly of a demon. His head was listing to one side and he wore a look of shock identical to the boy's.
Gabriel stood there frozen for several seconds before approaching cautiously. Nick he gave a wide berth, but he poked the boy to see what had happened up close. His skin was inflexible, as if he were merely very realistically painted wood or stone. Glancing to the side as movement caught his eye, Gabriel saw a long line of spiders fleeing the scene.
As Gabriel stood there looking over the scene critically, Peeves came bursting out of one of the side doors. He froze, just like Gabriel had, upon seeing the scene.
"Don't you dare go around telling people I'm responsible for this," said Gabriel quickly. That would have been the last thing he needed. Peeves nodded quickly, staring at Nick with an expression of horror.
"Get a teacher or something," Gabriel told him. "And I was never here, understand?" He turned around and hightailed it around the corner, opting to go the long way round to Ravenclaw tower as Peeves went shooting off, shouting after a few minutes that there had been another attack. Gabriel heard the distant sounds of a stampede of feet on floors as everyone in the classrooms nearby no doubt came out to look.
As Gabriel walked, he wondered What could be so powerful as to Petrify a ghost?
The double attack so shortly before the holidays caused a near stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts express back to London. Practically no one was left in the castle - besides Gabriel, it was looking like Draco and his cronies would be the only ones there for the two weeks vacation.
The first day of vacation, after bidding goodbye to a wholly reluctant Michael and Hermione, Gabriel leaned against the threshold of the entrance to the Great Hall and waited.
He was not disappointed.
"You didn't even give me a date," said Draco irritably as he walked closer. "How was I supposed to know you meant today?"
"You're here, aren't you?" asked Gabriel with a small smile.
"And that's another thing," Draco said, stopping a few feet away. "Why did you want to talk so badly?"
"What else could it be about?" Gabriel stood up straight, gesturing with his hands for 'spooky' effects. "The Chamber of Secrets."
He could practically see Draco's interest sharpen. "What about it?"
"Come on," Gabriel told him, rolling his eyes. "We both know that you were thrilled the night it opened."
Draco seemed to guess his thoughts. "Are you implying that you think I'm the Heir?" he asked, astonished.
"I'm implying nothing."
"I'm not," Draco said sharply. "And I wasn't-"
"Happy? No, I believe I said thrilled." Gabriel interrupted dryly. "And I thought you were working on this hating Muggleborns thing."
Draco faltered momentarily. "I can't help it-" he began angrily.
"Of course you can." Gabriel snapped back at him. "You just don't want to disappoint your dad. That, and you've been told your entire life to think that. I get it."
"How do you know that?"
"Like I can't just guess?" It was incredibly obvious, to Gabriel at least. "Besides, I met your dad, remember? I've definitely heard of him." Gabriel had looked up old news articles in the library out of curiosity, and while he was polite enough not to say it to Draco's face, he seriously doubted that the boy's father had actually been under the Imperious curse as a Death Eater.
Draco was silent for a few moments. "Is that all you wanted, then?"
"Pretty much." Gabriel could tell that he'd been telling the truth. "What did you want, and early Christmas present?" Crap, he still had to buy things for Michael and Hermione.
Draco looked unsure how to respond. "Er-"
"See you, Draco." He saw Draco start at being called by his first name, but Gabriel was already turning and strolling away. Draco made no move to call him back, and as Gabriel ducked around the corner he quickly pulled his invisibility cloak out of his magically expanded pocket and what an excellent gamble that particular spell had been. Pulling it on quickly, Gabriel glanced around the corner again to see Draco heading to the other side of the hall.
Gabriel walked quickly to catch up. If Draco was going back to the Slytherin dorms, then they were much deeper in the castle than Gabriel had expected. He kept going down to the dungeon level, making Gabriel thankful that he'd stopped the hat from Sorting him into Slytherin, and through a maze of hallways until he came to an apparently blank wall.
"Pure-blood," he told the wall, and Gabriel raised his eyebrows at what was obviously a password. There was a carved snake on the wall which Gabriel hadn't noticed before and its eyes lit up green, the wall folding itself out of the way in a manner reminiscent of the entrance to Diagon Alley.
Draco walked in. Gabriel waited for the entrance to close before he whipped the cloak off, stuffing it back in his pocket as he approached the carved snake.
"Hel-lo," he said conversationally to no one in particular. "Let's see what we've got here...what makes you tick, eh? Where's your secret message?" Gabriel's eyes scanned the carving, but no imperfections that would suggest a hidey-hole could be found - of course, the same could be said of the eagle door knocker on the Ravenclaw entrance.
"It was Enochian for Ravenclaw," Gabriel mused, "So maybe that snake-language would work?" Rare languages did seem to be a theme.
Gabriel looked up at the snake and tried to pretend it was a real one. "Have you got a message?" It didn't work, probably because the words came out as English.
Gabriel shook his head and focused on the snake again, until he could practically see it moving. "Have you got a message?" He repeated, except this time what came out was a series of odd hisses that he wasn't fully aware of making, but this was no time to be taking apart the intricacies of Parseltounge. In any case, it still didn't work.
"Salazar Slytherin?" That didn't work either. "Come on, open up!"
That yielded something. Like the eagle, the snake spat out a bit of parchment at him. Gabriel swiftly pocketed it and wrapped himself in the cloak again until he got back up to Ravenclaw Tower. It wouldn't do to be caught with something like this in his pocket, and anyways Lockhart was still wandering the castle - he hadn't gone home for Christmas.
What a shame. Gabriel could have used some peace and quiet.
This chapter is 5,398 words long you guys had better appreciate this monstrosity.
Read and review, let me know what you think!