Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, only the Archard family and other OCs belong to me. The French words/phrases will be italicized, as well as the spells. Reviews are appreciated!

Chapter 11: Wagging Tongues

Esme POV

Every night since Samhain, I'd been taking the Sleeping Draught potion, and to my knowledge, I hadn't had the nightmare again. Despite what happened on Samhain night, I felt better now that I'd been able to have restful sleep once again. Through these last few days, all anyone could talk about was the attack on Mrs. Norris; who hadn't been killed, but rather had been petrified, not that this news comforted Monsieur Filch. He was often found pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as if he thought the so-called Heir of Slytherin might come back to announce themselves.

Most students were now avoiding that section of the corridor. Despite all of Monsieur Filch's scrubbing with Mrs. Slower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, the gleaming red letters still shone as bright as they first appeared on the stone. Although, the avoidance probably had more to do with Monsieur Filch attempting to give students detentions for 'looking happy' and other such ridiculous reasons.

Blaise continued to be the most well-informed of us all, with many little birdies always tweeting in his ear about what everyone was saying about what happened on that night. The whole school disagreed on how exactly Mrs. Norris was petrified: a potion, a curse, or even the so-called monster in the supposed Chamber of Secrets. Davis had even pointed out one quiet evening that while petrification was rather uncommon, there were several known Magical creatures that could cause it.

We had gone around jokingly suggesting which unlikely creature was roaming the corridors of Hogwarts. However, that discussion soon ended when Theo brought up that no known creature could survive being locked inside a chamber for centuries without any food, water, or other necessities, as every living creature (Magical or otherwise) needed basic sustenance to live. Even powerful Magical creatures such as phoenixes and dragons needed food and such.

With all ridiculous theories and rumours floating around, the one thing everyone did seem to agree on was that Potter was the one to attack Mrs. Norris, and all but Slytherin House were whispering about Potter possibly being the Heir of Slytherin. To the other Houses, it appeared that since Potter came to Hogwarts, danger lurked in the corridors. But to those of us in Slytherin, none of us believed that Potter of all people was even so much as modeling himself after the rival of the very House he was sorted into. Not when he turned his nose up at Slytherin House and our values while appearing utterly ignorant of Magical traditions and culture.

Even with this belief that Potter was Salazar Slytherin's Heir, very few students even seemed to honestly believe the Chamber of Secrets existed; rather they were assuming Potter had simply cracked after facing Quirrell last year and was now getting his revenge. This particular rumour seemed highly unlikely to me since Potter has never seemed the revenge hot-headed type - Weasley certainly, but not Potter. While Potter has had his share of confrontations with Draco, Potter's anger always seemed more defensive in nature to me, sparked in response to Draco's directed insults.

All the other Slytherin Second-Years agreed with me (Blaise even bluntly adding that Potter was too awkward and boring to have a psychotic break). Draco in particular appeared almost offended when Blaise reported that the rest of school believed Potter to be the Heir of Slytherin. Draco admitted he had no idea who could actually be the heir, or even who could be just playing at it to cause trouble, but he was adamant that it definitely wasn't Potter. This didn't mean that Draco wasn't going to stir the cauldron to make Potter's life difficult - oh no, Draco had been greatly enjoying the subtle social shunning Potter had been experiencing these last few days.

Theo vanished even the slightest possibility of Potter being Slytherin's heir when he pointed out that any heir had to be descended from Salazar Slytherin; Potter was not, as his family line was known to be from a completely different bloodline. Additionally, the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin were the Gaunt family, whose House died out when the last surviving male perished in Azkaban decades ago. Any remaining relations would be forever lost in the maternal bloodlines, being obscured by the bloodlines they intermingled with.

Theo had only known all this because he'd once overheard his father ranting about it being such a wasteful travesty that such a prestigious bloodline was lost because some Muggle-loving Blood Traitors were offended Morfin Gaunt had done away with a few useless Muggles. The discomfort on Theo's face as he explained this plainly showed he disagreed with his father's words, but the fact remained that Salazar Slytherin's bloodline was lost to the passage of time.

Yet all that still didn't keep the majority of the school from strongly suspecting Potter was the so-called Heir of Slytherin. Daphne had managed to get ahold of one of the copies of Hogwarts: A History from the library before they were all gone. After reading through the entire thing, we concluded that Cara Buttermere hadn't lied. The book held the base facts of the story the prefects told with a small dose of bias against Slytherin - it was a sad thing for a recognized historical book to be riddled with bias. Anyways, Hogwarts: A History aside, there was no logical reason for the rumour of Potter being the Heir of Slytherin to continue being the most believed gossip amongst the students.

Still, despite all the buzz over what happened, classes went on as normal. We were suffering through another dull lesson of History of Magic with the Gryffindors today. However, not even halfway through the hour lecture, something unexpected happened. Granger interrupted Professor Binns' flat drone by raising her hand into the air.

The ghost professor appeared both startled and amazed as he paused in the middle of his lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289. "Miss…er…?"

"Granger, sir," she clarified before continuing in a clear voice, "I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets."

Either Granger was trying to get an unbiased rendition of the story or she simply wasn't able to get a copy of Hogwarts: A History like Daphne was. Still, her question had startled quite a few students and gotten everyone's attention.

"My subject is History of Magic," Professor Binns replied slowly in a dry and wheezy voice. "I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his throat in a rather grating manner before continuing with his previous lecture. "In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcer-er-ers-"

He stuttered to a halt as Granger was once again waving her hand in the air. "Miss Grant?"

"Please sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"

Professor Binns was looking at her with a look of ludicrous amazement - I didn't think anyone had ever interrupted him before in all his years of teaching, both alive and dead. "Well," he began slowly, "yes, one could argue that I suppose. However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensationalized tale…"

All reluctance soon faded on the ghost's face when he realized he had the entire classroom of students hanging onto his every word. "Oh, very well. Let me see…the Chamber of Secrets…You all know of course that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago, the precise date is uncertain, by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and Magicals suffered much persecution."

He paused as he gazed around the room. "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 Magical 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."

Professor Binns pursed his lips. "Reliable historical sources tell us this much," he said. "But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one 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 he believed were unworthy to study magic."

A look of annoyed resignation flashed across his face. "The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course," he said. "Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned Magicals. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."

A heavy silence rang through the classroom as those who hadn't known any of the information slowly thought it over. I couldn't help but feel grateful for Professor Binns' stark adherence to historical fact - his tone never once wavered as he relayed none of the bias found in Hogwarts: A History.

Granger's hand was shot back into the air. "Sir, what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the chamber?"

"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of Slytherin alone can control," Professor Binns answered in a very dry tone. At the several unnerved looks floating around the classroom he added, "I tell you, the thing does not exist. There is no chamber, and no monster."

"But, professor," one of the Gryffindor boys spoke up. "If the chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?"

This was actually a rather good point in my opinion, and something I hadn't thought of before. Professor Binns on the other hand instantly disagreed, looking more aggravated the longer this line of conversation continued. "Nonsense, O'Flaherty." (Even I knew that wasn't his name) "If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing-"

"Professor," piped up one of the Patil twins, "what if it required Dark Magic to open-"

"-Just because a Magical doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean they can't, Miss Pennyfeather," snapped Professor Binns - he truly was awful at remembering anyone's name. "I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore couldn't find it, it does not exist! It is a myth! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable fact!"

I winced at the rather shrill tone Professor Binns' voice became and was actually glad when he returned to his dull sleep-inducing droll. While I hadn't necessarily learned anything new, I felt conflicted over the situation surrounding the Chamber of Secrets. I just knew it was real, I felt it was so in my very magic, yet I had no idea if it truly had been opened or not.

Finally the bell chimed, signaling the end of class, but also waking those few who managed to dose off once again. After gathering my things back into my bag, my friends and I left the classroom, joining the throng of students filling up the corridors. We were approaching the entrance to the staircases when someone crashed into me.

My vision went dark as an unsettling shiver raked down my spine. I blinked and my vision cleared to see Ginny Weasley scrambling to pick up her scattered books and parchment from the floor.

"Oh désolé, Ginny. Here, let me help you," I said as I reached down and picked up a nearby black leather notebook.

The second my hand grasped the notebook, I completely froze in fear. I felt as if a Dark hand was reaching into my very soul and squeezing with sharp talons. As quickly as it occurred, the feeling was gone when the notebook was wretched from my hand. I blinked as I came back to myself. Ginny had snatched the notebook from my hand and was clutching it close to her chest, looking both unsettled and very protective.

"S-s-sorry, I…I've got to go," she stuttered out as she quickly grabbed the last of her books and fled, leaving behind a few blank pieces of parchment in her rush to get away.

"Well she's an odd one for sure," commented Blaise dryly.

"Odd? Try rude," Daphne corrected in an annoyed tone. "I'd thought perhaps the girl Weasley would at least have better deportment than her brothers, but apparently after Percy, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stopped teaching their children any sort of manners."

"Blaise was right, that entire thing was strange," I corrected Daphne in a soft voice as my mind was still turning over the interaction.

The unsettling sensation of when I bumped into her and touching the black notebook aside, I had thought Ginny had no issues with me nor with Slytherin House, not with how we interacted over the summer. But with how different Ginny was just now, perhaps Gryffindor House changed her mind…What else could explain the once mischievous girl suddenly avoiding eye contact and stuttering as she spoke? But that feeling I sensed from the notebook…it was foul, Dark…It had to be a moment of insanity or perhaps a sliver of my nightmare surfacing after being repressed by the Sleeping Draught…I didn't know, and that only unsettled me more.

Theo put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't let the little First-Year bother you, Esme. Whatever her problem is, it's her own. She's not worth your concern."

"Theo's right," agreed Daphne. "Now didn't you say you needed to go to the library to get a book for our Charms assignment?"

"Oui," I answered as I forced myself to push away from what just happened. "I need to find a lightning charm to write about."

"I still don't understand why you chose lightning of all the elements to write your essay on. Fire and water spells are two a knut," commented Blaise.

"Same reason I chose to do earth, mate, because she actually wanted to learn something," teased Theo.

"Are you going to go right now?" asked Daphne.

"I might as well." I replied.

"Then would you return this for me?" Daphne asked as she held out Hogwarts: A History to me.

"Oui, ma amie," I agreed with a smile as I took the book from her. "I'll meet you all back in the common room afterwards. Make sure-"

"-to grab the large table in the corner," interrupted Theo. "It's our normal study spot too, Esme."

I playfully rolled my eyes as I muttered, "Morveux effronté," under my breath before walking in the opposite direction of the dungeons.

I was walking down the corridor that led to the library when I noticed someone was huddling in one of the alcoves. As I got closer, I realized that it was a rather nervous looking Neville.

"Everything alright, Neville?" I asked as I approached him.

He startled, having most likely not seen me approach. "E-Esme, h-hi!"

"Hello," I greeted back before asking once again if he was alright.

"Nothing's w-wrong," he (poorly) denied. Now that I was much closer, I saw Neville was quite flushed and had tears gathered in the corner of his eyes.

"Did something happen?"

Neville hesitated before words practically exploded out his mouth. "F-Filch tried to give me a week's worth of detention just for breathing too loudly! I c-can't help it! I try not to be a bother, but I can't help breathing hard. F-Filch made me nervous before, but now he's even scarier. I'm sc-scared to walk through the corridors in case he comes barrelling at me again."

Halting his rambling, I stepped forward and took his (clammy) hand in my free one. "It's alright, Neville. We're all doing the best we can to avoid Filch. And should he try to give you detention again for something ridiculously like that again you should tell your Head of House. Professor McGonagall will surely do away with any ill-begotten punishments."

"It's not just Filch, it's what the Heir of Slytherin wrote on the wall. I'm practically a Squib myself I'm so lacking in Magical talent. The heir will no doubt be coming for me."

I squeezed his hand. "Firstly, you are just as much a wizard as I am a witch and don't let anyone tell you differently." Smiling gently as I lightly teased, "Besides, you're far too sweet for someone to see you as an enemy."

My smile brightened as I saw some of Neville's nerves disappear, though his face was now much redder than it was before. I released his hand to adjust my grip on Daphne's book. "Honestly, what happened on Samhain night has everyone concerned. Whether it's a prank or not, my prefects told us to limit our wanderings about the castle."

"Your sister told the Third, Second, and First-Years about the same thing, and also suggested that none of us walk the corridors alone."

I smiled gently, happy that Blaire was taking well to her responsibilities as a Gryffindor prefect. "That's sound advice and it might help any nerves you have to walk with a partner."

Neville nodded his head in agreement, before suddenly blurting out, "Herbology!"

It was my turn to startle.

Neville's face flushed red all the way to his ears. "S-sorry, I meant. How's Herbology going for you this year?"

I grimaced at the reminder of that particular lesson. "I'm embarrassed to say your efforts from last year may have been wasted. Whatever skills and knowledge I managed to get with your help have faded over the summer break. I'm just as terrible as ever."

"Great!"

"Pardon?"

"I-I meant, I can t-tutor you again. If y-you want, that is…"

"Oui, I would very much like that." Not only did I truly need the help, but I would love to have our study sessions together once again - I missed spending time with Neville. "Same time as last year?"

"Y-yeah," he agreed. "T-though could we m-maybe not meet in ou- the alcove."

"Of course, how about the back left table near the potions section in the library? Not many people use it since it's in Madame Pince's line-of-sight, but as long as we keep our voices down, we'll have no issues."

"That's fine with me!"

"Très bien! I actually need to be getting to the library now, I need to exchange this book for another."

"No problem, I'll see you around E-Esme!"

Waving goodbye to Neville, I left him in the alcove to continue on my way. Madame Pince was quite happy to get Daphne's book back, apparently there was an entire parchment list of people waiting to check it out.

The library itself was fairly full, with many students either in search of books they needed or gathered quietly at the various tables and study benches. To save myself time, I asked Madame Pince if she had any copies of Achievements in Charms by Sameera Hanifus available. Unlike Hogwarts: A History, this book was readily available and with a wave of her wand, Madame Pince summoned the book from the shelves for me.

Once I wrote my name down on the Checked Out sheet, I was free to leave for the Slytherin common room. Luckily, I didn't have to wait for the staircases to move into place and thus was able to quickly make my way into the dungeons. I ended up following a group of Sixth-Year girls down the corridor that led to our common room, so I didn't have to be the one to mutter the password to the wall for the entranceway to appear.

True to Theo's words, they had claimed our favorite study area in the common room and were already diligently working on assignments as I approached. Taking the open place beside Daphne, I got the materials I needed out of my bag before getting settled.

Daphne paused from reading to glance over at me. "Your mood appears much improved from before."

"Does it? I hadn't noticed." I replied, though I realized she was right. Whatever lingering feelings I had from what happened with Ginny Weasley were gone, and I knew exactly when I felt the burden leave - after I spoke with Neville.

Daphne made a humming noise, clearly unconvinced with my vague answer, but still she left it alone and returned to her transfiguration book. I got work on my charms essay, quickly selecting the Tempest Jinx as the subject of my essay. It was a rather fascinating spell - a spell generally meant for duelling, it created bolts of lightning to strike at either one or multiple targets. While simplistic in its incantation and wand movement, the spell required a great deal of control and a natural inclination towards elemental type spells to perform correctly and impactfully.

I finished my charms essay before too long and at Theo's suggestion we all got out our astrology charts to work on them together. Since we were all always half-asleep for this particular class, it was always best to work on the assignments together because everyone was always off or wrong about at least one or two things.

Before we knew it, it was getting close to dinner time. While Blaise and Theo stayed behind in the common room to wait for Draco, Daphne and I went ahead to the great hall on our own. We had just barely left the dungeons behind when Potter, Granger, and Weasley suddenly stood in our path - as if they were waiting for us.

Potter was the one to speak up. "Esme, can we talk to you for a second?"

I really didn't want to and was debating if I wanted to risk them following me like bloodhounds if I were to ignore them and keep walking.

"I don't know, can you?" snarked Daphne. Clearly she was as eager as I was to give the Gryffindors any more of our time.

Weasley flushed scarlet and opened his mouth, but was cut off by Granger. "Please, Esme. It's important," she said as she gestured to a nearby alcove, likely wanting the privacy and also implying they didn't want Daphne to overhear whatever it was they had to talk to me about.

I sighed; might as well just get this over with. "Fine."

"Are you sure?" Daphne whispered softly to me.

"Oui, I can handle these three just fine," I whispered back, tipping my head towards her so the Gryffindors couldn't read my lips.

Daphne nodded, and in a louder voice announced, "I'll be right here then." Unsaid was that she'd be watching closely, which made Granger bristle in offense and Potter appear guilty, while Weasley likely missed the underlying message as he simply turned and stomped his way into the alcove.

I followed Potter and Granger into the alcove but remained on the edge and off to the side to ensure Daphne still had a clear view of the four of us. Hopefully whatever they had to say wouldn't ruin the pleasant mood Neville had been able to coax me into.

Monsieur = mister

Désolé = sorry!

Oui = yes

Ma amie = my friend (female)

Morveux effronté = cheeky brat (male)

Pardon = sorry?

Madame = Mrs.

Très bien = very good

Extra POV

Harry POV

"So what is so important that you three can't say in front of Daphne and broke your patterned avoidance for?"

I flinched at her words, feeling as if she punched the air out of me. I'd wanted to talk to Esme since the start of term, but never seemed to find the right time and then the longer I waited the less important it felt to speak with her. We weren't friends, I long broke my promise to her from when we first met to not let different Houses come between us. At this point, and as much as I hated it, I doubted we would ever get to be friends after I'd messed up so many times with her. Like she said, I avoided her.

While I didn't know too much about Esme's friends, they seemed a whole lot better than Malfoy and it was comforting to know that she had them at her side. I had noticed Malfoy had been hanging around her a lot more this term than before, and Esme really shouldn't waste her time on someone like Malfoy. She's so much better than him and hopefully I could convince her of how rotten he was and she'd help us make sure Malfoy couldn't hurt anyone or anything else.

Taking a deep breath I jumped right in. "We think Malfoy's the Heir of Slytherin, and we just need to prove it. So we were hoping you could speak to him, get him to admit it, then we can tell Professor Dumbledore and he can stop him before Malfoy can hurt anyone."

"Incroyable," she muttered while shaking her head, clear disbelief showing on her face. "You three honestly think Draco was the one to petrify Mrs. Norris and write the bloody message on the wall."

"You heard what he said. 'You'll be next Mudbloods', he practically declared himself the heir," Ron gritted out. I glanced at him in concern, hoping Ron's emotions wouldn't get away from him. This was our only plan, but it would fail if Ron tried to pick a fight with Esme.

"He's made it quite clear he thinks little of Muggleborns," added Hermione.

"And his family have all been sorted into Slytherin for generations," I finished up our reasoning and waited for the information to click for Esme like it did for us. However, I felt my stomach drop when Esme's eyes darkened as an annoyed frown replaced her previously blank face.

"You three do realize there are many Slytherins who come from families that have been in Slytherin House for centuries? Even then, that's beside the point as the House sorting has little to do with anyone's ancestry. Also, if Draco was the heir, wouldn't he have opened the chamber last year? The heir could be a First-Year for all you know since this is only happening now; that is, if it wasn't some prank done in poor taste."

Wait, did Esme not even think the Chamber of Secrets was real? How could she not? She was in Slytherin, surely they all knew about it. I quickly thought over what she said. "He probably couldn't control the monster as a First-Year."

Esme rolled her eyes, making me feel like I was an idiot for suggesting such a thing. "So a Second-Year can? By that logic it would need to be an Upper-Year."

Okay, I couldn't really fault her on that, but time was of the essence and we needed to know if Malfoy was the heir or not before someone got hurt. "Look, Malfoy practically declared there would be more attacks," I pointed out to her, internally hoping she'd help us again despite the sour note last term ended for her and the other Slytherins. "All we're asking is for you to speak with Malfoy and try to get him to admit to being the Heir of Slytherin."

"I don't need to interrogate him about it, Potter, as I've heard Draco say he doesn't know who the so-called Heir of Slytherin could be and I believe him."

I internally despaired that we weren't getting through to her and worried that she was believing whatever lies Malfoy was telling her - I hated that she called me by my last name but Malfoy by his first name.

Suddenly, I swore I heard crackling and my eyes widened when I saw Esme's hair spark up like Hermione's did when she was particularly worked up. That could not be a good sign.

"May I remind you three that last year you were convinced Professor Snape was the culprit going after the Philosopher's Stone and someone you thought was the so-called victim was the true thief," she slowly bit out, though her green eyes were practically aglow with fire she looked so angry.

"You three are terrible wannabe Aurors and I suggest you leave this sleuthing to those who know better, lest you meddle in things that ought to be left alone. However, knowing the three of you, you'll simply ignore my words yet again and because you simply can't help yourselves, you'll go looking for trouble. So if you don't mind, I'm going to dinner." Not even a second after she finished saying that, she spun in her heels and glided away back to where her friend was waiting.

I felt slightly stunned after Esme's angry tirade. I'd only ever seen Hermione's hair spark with her emotions, and I honestly thought it was just something unique to Hermione, but apparently not - perhaps it was a girl thing. Never before had I seen her so angry, not that I blamed her. We hadn't left things on the best of terms before summer break, but then with Dobby stealing all my letters she probably thought I ignored the letter she sent me.

Ron shook off what happened faster than I could. "That was a complete waste of time, just like I said it would be. Esme didn't even try to listen to us before storming off. She can't see how rotten Malfoy is, he has her completely fooled. We weren't wrong to think it was Snape last year, he made himself all suspicious-like, and we aren't wrong now. I bet she knows it's Malfoy and was just covering for him, hoping that whatever he does will make sure Slytherin wins the House Cup this year."

"You're completely wrong, Ron. Esme isn't like Malfoy, and she would never condone people getting hurt just to win a competition," said Hermione, instantly defending the Slytherin girl.

I felt a guilty rock settle in my stomach that it wasn't me who came to Esme's defense first. Though Ron did sort of have a point. Last year, Esme had willingly helped us; she warned us of all the traps we would have to face to get the stone. But just now she wanted nothing to do with us. It hurt that she defended Malfoy, a lot more than when she defended Snape last year.

"I believe Esme when she said she heard Malfoy claim he didn't know who the heir was," continued Hermione, "but Malfoy easily could've just been keeping the truth from her. He wouldn't admit something like that to Esme, I don't think they're all that close."

Latching onto Hermione's train of thought I added, "So maybe Crabbe or Goyle might know. They're around Malfoy all the time after all."

"Yeah, maybe we could trick them into telling us," suggested Ron.

"Even they aren't that thick," Hermione muttered before she brightened - she had another idea. "But there might be another way. Mind you, it would be difficult, not to mention, we'd be breaking fifty school rules, and it'll be dangerous, very dangerous."

Incroyable = unbelievable

Big thank you to my Beta-Readers: Anonymous and TheSparkler!