On the morning of the scheduled Gryffindor Quidditch match, Jane heard the scary voice, for the first time in a while.
"Kill this time … let me rip … tear …"
Jane cringed. She then put her earplugs in, even though it was probably too late.
People soon got up and started leaving, and then Neville sat down beside her.
She took one ear plug out when she noticed that Neville was trying to talk to her.
"Voices?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Would it help to go swing?"
"Probably," she said.
Hermione rushed in. "Jane, have you been hearing strange voices, like just now, and at the Halloween fest?" she asked.
Jane froze.
"I don't think it's any use keeping it a secret anymore," Neville said.
Jane and Neville both nodded.
Hermione soon rushed off.
"What's going on?" Jane asked.
"I don't know," Neville said. "I guess we'll have to ask again later."
Jane and Neville swung for a while and then headed toward the Quidditch pitch. They heard McGonagall announcing that the match was canceled and that all students were to return to their dorms.
It was a beautiful day outside. Why would they cancel Quidditch? This couldn't be good.
In the Hufflepuff common room, Professor Sprout made an announcement. "Two more students have been petrified, Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater."
Jane cringed when she heard Hermione's name. She didn't know who Penelope Clearwater was, but Jane felt sad for her too.
The new curfew was six o'clock. They were no longer allowed to go anywhere outside their common rooms without a teacher.
Jane didn't think she could handle being that cooped up.
Jane had a rough day. She managed to do a little homework, but not much because she could not concentrate. She also could not keep still, in the full common room, and in her dorm room, and she kept accidentally getting in people's way.
She eventually ended up sitting, with her feet tucked underneath her, doing the most calming sedentary things she could think of. She knit, with her knitting needles and yarn, but she wasn't really knitting anything in particular. She sang to herself, in a whisper, and rocked back and forth.
Shortly after bedtime, Jane quietly got out of bed, got her parchment, ink bottle, and quill, and snuck down to the common room girls' bathroom. She closed the door, glad to finally have the room to herself.
"Can you hear me?" she asked, in parseltongue.
"Yes," the voice said back.
"Don't hurt anybody, ever again."
"I only take commands from my master."
"Maybe I'm also an heir of Slytherin."
"Why should that matter? You're not an heir of my master. He has no heirs."
"Your master's not Salazar Slytherin? But, he put you in the chamber."
"No, he didn't. My master did. He got the idea from a legend."
Jane paced back and forth, unable to keep still, for a while. She eventually stopped, sat on a toilet, and wrote the conversation down, and then she got up and resumed moving.
She later wrote down a description of hearing the voices. She then copied the description and conversation.
The next morning, Jane handed Professor Sprout one of the copies of the description and conversation. She did not mention Harry or Hermione because she felt like she shouldn't without their permission, which she could not get. She did not want to risk getting Harry in trouble, especially since people already suspected him. She did not want people to know she was hearing voices, but she couldn't take it anymore.
Jane watched Professor Sprout reading it. "I'm not sure if this really helps us stop it, but hopefully this will lead us somewhere. Thank you for letting us know," she said.
Jane sat down at the Gryffindor table, next to Neville, at breakfast. She handed him the second copy.
Neville put it in his pocket. "I'll read it later," he whispered.
Jane thought that was smart. People would probably be less likely to get suspicious that way.
Professor McGonagall announced that Dumbledore had been suspended, and she was now headmaster. Jane wondered if that would even change anything.
Professor Sprout approached Jane, in the Hufflepuff common room. "Jane, I need you to come with me please."
Jane followed her out of the common room, worried they might think she had something to do with the attacks, to find Professor McGonagall.
"I need you both to come with me, please," she said. "You are not in trouble, Jane."
Jane and Professor Sprout followed Professor Mcgonagall, to the haunted girls' bathroom. Professor Dumbledore was there. There was also a red bird.
"This," Professor Dumbledore explained, pointing to the bird, "is my friend Fawkes. He can locate people the same way as owls can. There are three missing kids, and he's determined that there are here. We think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. We're going to need you to tell it to open, in parseltongue."
Jane nervously fidgeted and rocked back and forth. She tried to speak, but at first, no sound came out. She took a few deep breaths. "Open, please," she managed to say, in parseltonge.
Jane stared in shock, as she watched it open.
"Sprout, take her back," Professor McGonagall demanded.
Professor McGonagall stood up in front of everybody, in the great hall. "I have very unfortunate news. The Chamber of Secrets is real. Ginny Wesley was taken into the chamber. Her brother Ron, along with Harry Potter and Gilderoy Lockhart, went into the Chamber to rescue her. Unfortunately, Ginny was dead by then, and the boys went insane when they saw her. The boys are now in Saint Mungo's, and we're unsure if they'll ever recover.
"You will all be sent home, on the Hogwarts express, tomorrow. Don't worry about the petrified students. They will be sent home as soon as they are revived."