The Summer had been both long and short. It was long in the sense I yearned to go back to Hogwarts.. To continue my magical education. To learn more spells.. And of course to see my best friends Harry, Ron and Hermione. Also I had not gotten an Owl back from Harry, which worried me and made me wish I was back home to check up on him. I knew his Aunt and Uncle were abusive towards him and could have him locked in a closet. I'm sure I could convince my Mom to distract the Dursleys as I broke Harry out.. But of course I couldn't do that this far from home. It was funny how one year in England and I already called it my home.. Perhaps it was the fact had my father not turned evil and served Lord Voldemort I would have grown up there, and be able to live without guilt and shame of being the son of a traitor to the good guys.
Now of course the summer was short in the sense that my time in Canada did feel short. I didn't get to spend as much time with my family as I would have liked. I also couldn't really tell them I was a Wizard.. So I had to hide that fact whilst still keeping up with my homework and reading. That was hard, luckily I didn't bother reconnecting with any of my old friends, because it would be REALLY hard not to show them I wasn't a liar.. And I wasn't supposed to use magic outside of Hogwarts. I barely made it through my first year without getting expelled.. I wasn't about to push it.
We returned to England with 2 weeks until school started back up, which meant I didn't get to go to Diagon Alley with Harry, Hermione and Ron.. And had to get all my books myself. That was nice for my mom and she got to see Diagon Alley for the first time... I purposely went myself to grab my gold as I didn't want her feeling bad that I had more money from my father than from her. The List was short, save for a bunch of books by a Gildroy Lockhart. His books were not cheap. Luckily I didn't need to worry about the money.. But I did feel bad for Ron's family... perhaps I could find some what to help them out..? Had I been there when they bought the books I would have gotten Ron them as a late Birthday present at the very least. Luckily though I didn't need to look at buying a broom. Considering I was going to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year as one of their chasers. My mother has been able to basically blackmail a particularly loose lipped wizard into giving her one of the prototypes of the newest brand of Racing brooms due out in half a year or so. Perks of having a muggle mother who wasn't supposed to know magic existed.
When September finally arrived my mother and I went alone to Kings Cross, I had plans to meet Hermione, Harry and Ron on the train. When we made it across the barrier I turned to my mother and said "I'll write you more this year, I promise." She smiled with an almost devilish look and said "Well that's wonderful, you can tell me about all the rule breaking you do this year!" I bit my lip and said "That was a one time thing... okay a one year thing. Come on Voldemort was trying to steal a stone to come back from the brink of death, I broke a few rules to save the world and my best friend. That won't happen this year!" My Mom gave me a stern look and said "It had better not. Remember your promise." I nodded "Trust me.. I never forgot it." She smiled "Good.. Now get going before the train leaves without you. Enjoy your second year, do good on your tests, study hard.. Oh an enjoy this Quidditch you keep going on about. I hope for a sport that you are flying around in the air its still relatively safe" I looked away and said sheepishly "Oh yeah.. Totally.." I hadn't told her about the Blundgers. I then hugged her goodbye and got on the train.
I walked down the train cars looking for my friends. I passed by compartments of some of my house mates. I gave quick greetings to Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom. I then stopped when I finally reached the compartment I had been trying to find.. The one with Hermione Granger. She had grown a bit from the last time I had seen her.. Hair not as messy... eyes as beautiful as ever. I grinned and said "How's my favorite-know-it-all?" She looked at me and grinned back, jumping up squealing "David!" She ran over and crushed me in a hug, and I hugged her back just as tightly. She pulled back and said "Hey, did you get stronger?" I shook my head "Nah.. Its just been a while" I of course had been working out more since she had seen me without a shirt.. Partly because I needed to work on my strength to be on the Quidditch team.. But mostly because I didn't want her to see me without a shirt in my chubby state ever again.
We took a seat and she asked "So, Canada, tell me everything about it." I raised an eyebrow and said 'Umm okay.. Its actually not much different than England, instead of it being cold and rainy its cold and snowy... uh... we don't actually say eh all the time. We DO like Maple syrup. No we don't live in igloo's" She rolled her eyes and shook her head "No.. I mean your trip this summer!" I chuckled and then shrugged "Nothing exciting, I visited some family in the United States and Canada.. Struggled to hide the fact I was a Wizard. I didn't get as much reading as I had hoped done, so you will probably beat me in house points this year" She grinned "And don't you forget it. How about some of your friends.. Did you see them?" I shook my head "No need. They believe me a liar.. And I can't prove them wrong. Besides.. I have much better friends now." I then looked out the window to see the scenery moving along. We weren't in Kings Cross any more.. And Harry and Ron hadn't dropped in on us yet. I then pointed out to Hermione "We're moving... Where are Harry and Ron?" Hermione looked worried "I don't know.. They should be here by now. Maybe they found another compartment?" I nodded "Lets go look." She nodded and we went on our way.
We checked compartment after compartment and nothing. We ran into Fred and George Weasley.. And what must be their younger sister, Ginny. I said "Hey guys, how was your summer?" I asked, so it didn't seem like I was only interested in talking to them to find my friends They nodded and Fred said "It was great mate! We flew our dad's car to rescue Harry! It was bonkers!" Ginny piped up and said "You could have brought me!" I chuckled saying "That's so awesome. Flying a car would be epic! You must be Ginny though, good to finally meet you!" Hermione grinned at her. Ginny gave a shy smile. Finally I asked "Have you guys seen Harry and Ron? We have been looking for them." George shrugged "We all came together.. We went through the barrier before them. They must be elsewhere on the train." Hermione nodded "thanks guys.. We'll keep looking." We went to leave when Fred said "Hey David, before you go, we just wanted to congratulate you on becoming a Chaser. Harry has been singing your praises and has poor Wood wrapped around his scrawny little finger. You'd better be good though, We were so close to getting the Cup last year and I doubt Wood will be so forgiving if we miss out on it this year." I bit my lip and said "Thanks guys.. I look forward to playing with you guys." I then took my leave.
As we searched Hermione said "I'm sure you will be great David. Harry wasn't playing you up.. I saw you on a broom last year, you are good. You and Harry will bring Gryffindor the cup this year. I'm sure of it." I sighed and replied "Great.. Someone else I can disappoint" She stopped me and said "I expect you won't, besides.. It's just Quidditch.. Its not like its anything important" I pursed my lips, but hen said "I guess you're right." We then concluded our two friends had not made it on to the train, so we went back to our compartment and waited our arrival to Hogwarts anxiously, hoping we could get Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore to send the train back to pick them up.
Our trip from the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts was different. We took Magic Horseless Carriages to the school.. And got to go into the Great Hall and await the first years, which turned out ot be more boring than the year before. While last year I was anxious to find out which house I was in and if my new friends would be in the same house, this year I just wanted to get the sorting over with so we could approach McGonagall about Harry and Ron.. And also to eat. The only name of note was Ginny Weasley, who of course got Gryffindor.
The rumors were flowing on where Harry was by this point.. Some say they flew a car.. Something I am sure was started by the Weasley twins. Some say they crashed the car and were getting expelled. That particular rumor it seemed came from Draco Malfoy himself. He walked over during the feast and said "Poor Shuter and Granger.. Nothing without their famous leader ans charity case." I curled my hand into a fist and said harshly "Go away Malfoy, or perhaps I'll go have a chit chat with the Werewolves in the forest ad have one visit you in the dead of night." Malfoy didn't back down "I doubt you can find one without Weasley as bait. Alas I think Potter and Weasley's days at Hogwarts have come to an end. Gryffindor's Quidditch team are look at another year of failure." I shook my head "Not if I have anything to say about it Malfoy, Slytherin's Quidditch team won't know what hit them." He raised an eyebrow "They let you on the Quidditch team? Wow they are scraping the bottom of the barrel this year. Well I think our Quidditch team has made some wonderful choices on lineup.. And you will be eating our dust." He then left. I looked at Hermione "What do you think he meant by that?" She shrugged "Who cares what Malfoy has to say.. He's just trying to get under your skin to mess with your Quidditch game. I'm more worried about Ron and Harry. What if its true? What if they are Expelled?" I shook my head "After We saved the stone and stopped Voldemort last year? Dumbledore wouldn't expel them. Lets just eat our food and check for them in the common room." She nodded and we continued to eat.
We left at the end of the feast and went to the Common Room, to find Harry and Ron standing outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, "Where have you been! Rumor was you've been expelled? Flying a car to Hogwarts?" Harry cut her off "We haven't been expelled, we only have gotten Detention" I then grinned "Brilliant! So you DID fly that car to Hogwarts? And I thought our Hogwarts experience was going to peak at saving the Philosophers stone! I wish I had gotten a go!" Hermione was about to lay into them when Ron said "Hermione just skip the lecture and give us the password. Its been a long night." I smirked "And you had a long drive.. The password is Wattlebird." That was when the portrait swung open. Harry and Ron were greeting with applause and admiration for their stunt. We all quickly excused ourselves to bed, where Harry and Ron regaled Neville, Seamus, Dean and I about the trip.
The next few days were.. Interesting to say the least. Ron got a Howler from Mrs Weasley which alerted the whole school to the adventure Harry and Ron had coming to Hogwarts which meant the group got more attention than normal from students and professors. It also turned out the reason why so many Gildroy Lockhart books were on the list of required materials this year was because he was our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Plus he seemed a little full of himself. The first class he had us take a large quiz on him, which of course very few of us knew anything of.. Well the Witches did at least. Hermione got near perfect marks. I found myself resenting Lockhart.. As it seemed Hermione had a crush on him.
At the end of the class he released a bunch of Cornish Pixies, and failed to get them under control. They even picked up Neville and hung him from the Chandelier. The bell rung and everyone bolted for the door.. Save for the 4 of us, who were going to stay to help Neville. Professor Lockhart looked around half panicked before his eyes rested on us "I'll uh, leave you 4 to nip the rest of them up, shall I?" He then bolted into his office and shut the door behind himself. I pursed my lips and pulled out my wand, choosing my targets and chanting "Petrificus Totalus!" to freeze them and return them to their cages. I of course had to dodge other pixies trying to bite me. "Well at least this is good training for Quidditch" I said in a miffed tone. Ron yelped as a Pixie bit him on the ear "Can you believe him?" he said angerly. Hermione said "well he obviously wanted us to get some hands on experience" Harry then said in a shocked tone "Hand on experience? Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing!" I nodded "That spell he chanted sounded very fake." Hermione gave me a look "Rubbish, You've read his books, look at those amazing things he's done." I rolled my eyes "Says he's done. I've read plenty of fiction books in my time.. And they do read like Fiction. I'm sure it's quite easy to write yourself into magical situations and get yourself out of them.. Its another thing to actually do it." She continued to glare at me "Are you saying that Professor Dumbledore hired someone who doesn't know what he is doing to teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts? That's Bonkers and you know it David." I sighed. After we were done and left Ron whispered to me "He hired a guy with You-Know-Who on the back of his head.. So what does Dumbledore know." which elated a chuckle from me.
A few days later I was awoken early in the morning by Oliver Wood "Get up David, Its time for your first Quidditch Practice!" I sat up and murmured "But Wood.. Its not even light out yet." Harry then said from the bed beside me "I already tried that one.. It's best we get up Mate" Oliver nodded "Yes, You have never played Quidditch before David.. And I only have a few months to train you on our plays before we face Slytherin. Luckily no other teams have started training yet so we will have an edge this year! Get your Broom and meet us on the pitch in 15 minutes!" He then left. Harry and I grumbled as we got dressed and grabbed our Brooms and left our Dormitory. We ran into Colin Creevey, a new first year, in the common room. "Harry! I heard someone say your name on the stairs. Look, I've had it developed, will you sign it?" He held out a picture of Harry and Lockhart. "No. We are late for Quidditch Practice" Colin got excited "Ouu! I've never seen Quidditch before. You were the youngest player in over a century weren't ya Harry? You must be brilliant! I've never flown? Is it easy. Is that your broom, is it the best one there is?" Harry shook his head "no.. David's is better." Colin looked at me "Your new to the team aren't you David? Are you excited? I'd give anything to be able to fly alongside Harry. Could I give your Broom a go?" I shook my head "No. You haven't had training yet Colin. Its dangerous." He nodded looking disappointed, before continuing his questions. "Well I don't really understand Quidditch, is it true, there are 4 balls? And two fly around trying to knock people off their brooms?" Harry then spent our trip to the Pitch explaining Quidditch to Colin, with myself adding in a thing or two if Harry forgot.
When we arrived Wood got into explaining the different training program which took the better part of half an hour. I tried my best to keep up but I was still half asleep so I didn't take in everything. Once Wood was done the first diagram he asked "So.. Is that clear.. Is there any Questions?" George held up his hand "I've got a Question Oliver.. Why didn't you tell all this to us yesterday when we were awake?" Wood did not like that "Listen here you Lot! We should have won the Quidditch Cup last year. We're easily the best team. But due to circumstances that were beyond our control.." He paused. Harry and I looked at eachother, knowing it was his fault we lost. Wood composed himself "So this year we train longer and harder. Okay, lets go put our new theories into practice." I grabbed my Firebolt and headed out to the pitch. I was a little nervous. I hadn't really talked to my fellow chasers Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson before. I knew they were used to Alicia Spinnett being their third.. So I was the odd man out. I was so caught up in this nervousness that I didn't notice Ron and Hermione in the stands until they shouted down "You done practice yet?" Harry shouted up "Haven't started. Wood's been teaching us new moves" Hermione yelled "Good luck then!" I grinned and walked over to the other chasers. They looked down at me, and then at my broom. Their jaws dropped "Is that a Firebolt?! Those aren't even supposed to be out yet! How did you get one?!" I shrugged "My mum was scarce on the details. Something about a minstry wizard being a little loose lipped about Magic around her, and she used that to get a broom off of him unless he wanted to get in trouble. She never mentioned the fact she had a son who was a wizard" They grinned "Brilliant! We'll have to take advantage of the faster broom in our plays. We'll work with you on your goal making seeing as no one will be able to keep up with you." I grinned back and mounted my broom and kicked off.
I was shocked at how fast I rose into the air. I had never flown my Firebolt before. It was leagues faster and better than the old Shooting Stars that were the school brooms. It was a different sensation.. But I loved it. I then did some laps of the pitch, waving in and out of stands to get practice manuvering. Once done that I flew beside Harry just as Wood said "Why's the first year taking pictures. I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out our new training program" Fred then said "uh, I don't think the Slytherin's need a spy." Wood asked "Why?" I saw what he meant and pointed "because they are here in person to spy." Wood looked down and said angerly " I don't believe this! I booked the pitch for today! I will get to the bottom of this!" He flew down to them, and we followed.
Wood roared "Flint! I booked the pitch today! We got up specially! It ours!" Marcus Flint, Captain of the Slytherin team, leered at Wood "There is plenty of Pitch to share, Wood." Wood spat "But I booked the Pitch. I did!" Flint grinned "Ahh, but I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. I, Professor S Snape, give special permission for the Slytherin Qudditch team to practice on the pitch today owing to the need to train their new Seeker." Wood was balistic "But I have got a new Chaser that I need to train! Who is this new Seeker of yours" The team stepped aside and Draco Malfoy stepped forward. Fred asked "Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Flint smirked "Funny you should bring up Draco's father.. Look at the generous gift he made to the Slytherin Quidditch team." They produced brand new Brooms.. A black wood.. With Nimbus 2001 written on them in gold. Flint continued "Latest model, just came out last month. I believe they outstrip the old Two Thousand models by a considerable amount. As for the clean sweeps.. Sweeps the board with them." I brandished my broom and shot back "And how about the Firebolt huh? IT hasn't even come out yet.. Pretty sure its in a league of its own." Flint sneered before looking behind us "Oh look, pitch invasion."
Ron and Hermione had entered the fray. Ron shot a few barbs at Malfoy, who shot a few back. Finally Hermione said "At least no one had to buy their way onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They got in on pure talent." Malfoy sneered "No body asked your opinion ,you filthy little Mudblood!" My eyes widened. I had read about the slur.. But never imagined I would hear it at school.. Nor that someone would call Hermione one. Flint jumped in front of Malfoy to stop George and Fred from attacking him. Katie Bell screeched "How Dare you!" I lunged forward, but was grabbed and held back by Wood. Ron pulled out his broken wand and yelled "You'll pay for that one Malfoy!" There was a bang and Ron flies back. He immediately begins puking up slugs, which lead to us having to help him, instead of killing Malfoy.
It took Ron a while to stop puking Slugs. His day even got worse as his detention was to clean the Trophy room with Filch. Harry's day didn't turn out much better as he had to answer Lockharts fan mail. Hermione and I of course spent the time waiting for them catching up on our homework. I reluctantly read through Weekend with a Werewolf since Lockhart was likely to have more pop quizzes about himself, and if I had any chance at beating Hermione for house point this year, I needed to step up my game. When Harry and Ron returned we all went to bed, where Harry then told Ron and I about hearing voices that Lockhart didn't hear, which defiantly was not a good sign.
The next couple months were filled with homework, loathing Lockhart and training for Quidditch. I was lucky in the sense I didn't have a ounce of famous blood in my body, so Lockhart for the most part left me alone.. Although he did try to give me tips from time to time as he picked up on mine and Hermione's house point rivalry.. Plus I was friends with Harry so it gave him an excuse to hang around him. Quidditch practices were rough. Wood was drilling us hard on tactics and plays. Myself and Harry even harder than everyone else. Wood had to make sure Harry was more than prepared to face brooms faster than his for our match against Slytherin next month. He also had to make sure I knew all the plays, how to pass, shoot, dodge and also had to be the best at them all, seeing as my broom was the only one to stand a chance against the Nimbus 2001's. On the Saturday before Halloween, after hearing Fred and George's account of how fast the Slytherins were, Wood said "That settles it, David, give your Firebolt to Harry, you can have his Nimbus 2000. It's the only way Harry will catch the Snitch before Malfoy." I shook my head "Wait what? Seriously? No, Its my broom! Katie, Angelina and I have been working on plays for months taking advantage of the speed! Harry can catch a Snitch with his eyes closed.. And with his mouth! He doesn't need a fast broom to beat Malfoy!" Harry nodded "I'm not giving up my Nimbus Oliver. Both brooms were given to us as gifts." Fred said "yeah Oliver, Harry's got this. He's never let us down before, he won't now. David's new, he needs the speed advantage." Katie and Angelina nodded, and that settled the matter.
On Halloween Harry got us roped into going to Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party. When the rest of the students got to enjoy the feast.. This would be our second year we either missed the feast or had it cut short. I just wanted to stuff my face. However Hermione did make an excellent point, on how not many living people would ever experience a Deathday party. So we set out for the party with high hopes of an interesting affair.
Those hopes were quickly defeat when we approached the room of the party, The hallway got colder then closer we got.. And the blue lights from the candles set a very dreary tone. The black board scratching music and me want to rip my ears out. I had always enjoyed music, and even sang to myself when I was alone..but this wasn't music at all. It was torture. We were greeted at the door by Nearly Headless Nick, however he wore more formal attire. "My dear friends. Welcome.. Welcome, so pleased you could come" He said in a mournful tone. I looked at my friends, unsure of how to respond, they seemed unsure too so I said with a slight awkward grimace "Our..Pleasure?" We then hurried away. "Shall we have a look around?" Harry suggested. We did just that. Ron reminded us "Careful not to walk through anyone.." I nodded. As we explored Hermione said "Oh no, lets go a different way. I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle." I looked at her "Who is that?" She responds "She haunts the girls toilet on the first floor." Harry looked at her "She haunts a toilet?" Hermione nodded "Yes, its been out of order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the floor. I always avoided it before. Its awful trying to go to the loo with her there." Ron interrupted "Oh look food!" I grinned "Thank the gods, I am starving." As we got closer and recoiled. It was rotten fish, and bread with mold and stuff. I gulped and said "On second thought.. I think I have some Bertie Botts Every flavor beans left over from the Express up in our Dorm..I can wait." We then watched as ghosts flew through the table with their mouths open. "Can you taste it?" Harry asked one of the ghosts. He looked sad "Almost.. Almost." Hermione then pointed out "They must let the food go to give it a stronger flavour. I grimaced "Maybe I'll just wait until Breakfast tomorrow..."
We then turned to leave but ran into Peeves. "Hi Peeves." Harry said cautiously . The Poltergiest held out a platter of peanuts with green fungus on them "Nibbles." I held up a hand "No thanks, I'm allergic to nuts." He shrugged and said "Heard you talking about poor Myrtle. Rude you was to poor Myrtle. OY! MYRTLE!" Hermione looked mortified "Oh no, Peeves, please don't call her over, don't tell her what I said, she'll be really upset. I didn't mean it, I didn't-Oh, er, Hullo Myrtle." The ghost of what looked like a 6th year hogwarts student sulked over "Hello." she said drearily. Peeves said "Miss Granger was just talking about you.." Hermione quickly said "Oh yeah.. I was just saying how.. Nice you look tonight!" The ghost looked at her with tears forming in her eyes "You're making fun of me!" Hermione looked worried "No.. I.. David, Ron, Harry, wasn't I just saying how nice Myrtle looks tonight?" She elbowed me in the chest. I groaned and said "Oh.. Yeah." Ron and Harry followed my lead. Myrtle began to cry and gasped "Don't lie to me. I know what people call me behind my back. Fat Myrtle, Ugly Myrtle, Miserable moaning Myrtle!" Peeves grinned evilly and added "You missed out Spotty!" This lead to Myrtle storming out of the room bawling her eyes out, Peeves right behind her chanting "Spotty, spotty, spotty, spotty."
The rest of the part was dull after that. We met some of the headless hunt, but given how they had denied Nick entrance due to not being COMPLETELY headless, I wasn't too fond of them. They were showoffs, and not particularly kind. It was because of this Harry suggested we leave Which we did. As we made our way towards the Great Hall, until Harry stopped and started hugging the wall "Uh.. Harry?" I asked He then said "Shh, its that voice again. Shut up a minute." I exchanged looks with Ron and Hermione and we followed Harry as he said "This way!" We quickened our pace to a run when Harry said "Hurry, It's going to kill something!" I responded "Why are we running towards the thing that is going to kill?" Harry did not answer. We then skid to a stop when we hit a dead end on the second floor. Hermione then gasped "Look!" She pointed. I followed her gaze to a bunch of large red letters.. Looking like they had been written in blood saying
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE!
We looked underneath to see Mrs Norris hanging.. Seemingly frozen. Harry then said "Shouldn't we try and help-" Ron cut him off "Are you kidding, we don't want to be found anywhere near here." It was too late though. The feast had ended, and everyone was coming up the stairs. Soon what seemed like the whole of Hogwarts had swarmed us. Someone shouted "Enemies of the heir, beware? You'll be next Mudbloods!" I twisted around to see it was Draco Malfoy who had said that. "Shut it Malfoy, before you have to eat your next meal through a tube." I growled. Hermione held me back. However she didn't need to as soon as Filch pushed his way through the crowd. He cried "My cat! My cat. What happened to Mrs Norris!" He then saw Harry and turned on him "You! You killed my cat! You murdered Mrs Norris! I'll Kill you!" He made for Harry, but froze when Dumbledore's boomed voice yelled "Argus!" He then brushed right past us, picked up Mrs Norris and said "Argus, come with me. You too, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Mr Shuter and Miss Granger." Lockhart eagerly stepped forward "My office is closest headmaster, Fell free to use it" Dumbledore then said "Thank you Gilderoy." And with that we were whisked off.. Probably to get a lot of detention and possibly expulsion.
Dumbledore spent a lot of time inspecting Mrs Norris as Lockhart lectured on and on about what may have happened to her. Finally Dumbledore said "She's not dead Argus." He stood up straight and turned to Filch, who looked through his fingers as he had been crying "Not...dead? But why is she all.. Frozen and stiff?" Dumbledore responded calmly "She's been petrified Argus. But as to the cause, I am not sure." Lockhart quickly added "Ahh, I suspected as much" Harry, Ron Hermione and I remained silent, trying to not draw attention to ourselves. Filch had other plans however as he pointed at Harry and said "Ask him." Dumbledore eyed both Harry and I before saying "No second year could have done this. It would take dark Magic of the most advanced-" He was cut off by Filch spitting "He did it! He did it! You saw what he wrote on the wall! HE found in my office... he knows I'm a.. a.. Knows I'm a squib!" Harry finally said loudly "I never touched Mrs Norris! I don't even know what a Squib is!" Hermione looked ready to raise her hand to explain exactly what a Squib was, however Filch spat "Rubbish! HE saw my Kwikspell letter!" The plot thickened.
That was when Snape said "If I may interrupt Headmaster. Potter and his Friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time." I nodded my head vigorously, worried Dumbledore actually thought maybe I had something to do with this.. Seeing as my father had been a follower of Voldemort's. Snape then continued "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why were they in the upstairs corridor at all? Why weren't they at the Halloween feast?" Harry, Ron, Hermione and I launched into a description of the Deathday party. "Honestly, If I could survive without eating I would never eat again after seeing that food!" Was my anecdote I threw in when describing the food. Snape sneered "But why not join the party afterwards. Why be in the corridor after all?" We all stammered. I muttered "because.. Um.. Well.. The food.. My stomach..." Finally Harry said louder "because we were tired and wanted to go to bed." Snape then said "Without any supper? Shuter himself said the food wasn't for the living." Ron then said "none of us were hungry." His stomach grumbled giving him away. Snape grinned and then said "It would appear Headmaster.. That Potter is not being exactly Truthful. I believe it would be prudent then, to deprive these 4 of certain privileges until they decide to tell us the while story. I personally think Potter and Shuter should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until they decide to be honest." My heart sank. I was getting booted off the Quidditch team before I even had my first match.
Luckily Professor McGonagall came to our rescue "Really Severus? I see no reason to stop the boys playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick! There is no evidence at all that Potter or Shuter have done anything wrong!" Dumbledore was silent this whole time, giving the four of us lingering looks. He seemed to be looking more at Harry and me than anyone else. I wasn't sure why Harry.. But I knew he was trying to figure out a few missing details. Like how did I know Voldemort existed before Dumbledore could tell me last year. How did I know Voldemort killed him? I had never told him of my dream. Did he think my father left instructions on how to petrify cats? Finally he said "Innocent until proven Guilty Severus." Filch looked ready to explode "My cat has been petrified! I want to see some PUNISHMENT!" Dumbledore held up a hand "We will be able to cure her Argus. Madam Spout recently procured multiple Mandrakes which we make a potion from when they are fully grown." Lockhart tried to butt in saying he could make it, but Snape stared him down with his cold, dead eyes and said "I believe I am the Potions Master at this school." Finally Dumbledore turned to us and said "You may leave." And with that we left.. Somehow not in any trouble.
Over the next little while, the school was abuzz due to what happened to Mrs Norris, and the writing on the wall. Everyone wanted to know about the Chamber of Secrets. Finally Hermione was able to get the information out of Professor Binns, our History of Magic Professor, and only ghost professor. For all we knew he had been alive when the Chamber was made. He had explained how Salazer Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, was rumored to have built a secret Chamber hidden somewhere in Hogwarts after having a falling out with the other founders. That a monster was hidden within only the Heir of Slytherin could control, and that it was meant to purge the school of Muggleborn students. This had me thinking.. Did Dumbledore think Harry or I was the Heir of Slytherin? Why else would he have spent so much time deciding our fate on Halloween?
The four of us had theories of our own.. That Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. And we hatched a plan to find out how. Draco Malfoy would only ever brag he was trying to kill Muggleborns to his friends and housemates. All we needed to do was become friends with Mafloy. Seeing how that was never going to happen as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and David Shuter. We needed to become people that we weren't. To do that, we needed to find out how to make Polyjuice potion. Luckily, Hermione had a plan for that. It seemed It was wrong about this year being more tame than last year. It looked like the four of us were actually taking our shenanigans up a notch. Boy... Mom is going to kill me!