Anna walked back to the Slytherin Dungeon from the library. The sun was already setting and she had missed dinner, again. Not that she cared, but Draco would be upset. She'd been trying to find out about the Chamber of Secrets since the others hadn't come up with anything yet. Unfortunately though, there was nothing in the library and the attacks continued. Most students didn't walk alone anymore, except the slytherins. Why would the Slytherin heir attack slytherins? Plus, only muggleborns had been attacked and there were... no muggleborns currently in Slytherin house if she wasn't very much mistaken.
She muttered the password and entered, nodding at some other house mates she knew; older house mates, future Death Eaters with Death Eater parents; house mates that knew her. She walked over to Draco and dropped her bag beside an armchair. Without a word she took off her robe and draped it over the back, then she sat down. The others were just staring at her.
"What?" She asked. "If this is about skipping dinner, I've got more important thi-"
"It's not that." Draco cut her off, though he seemed slightly put off about it anyway. "We've got what you asked for."
"Oh." Eloquent, truly. She shook her head. Lately she'd been rather slow, she blamed it on whatever it was she kept feeling. "So?"
Pansy started. "The Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin before he left, supposedly leaving a great monster locked up in it which only he or his descendants could control. The monster is supposedly a tool for cleansing the school of those he deemed not worthy of attending, thus mudbloods."
Anna nodded. That much she had already guessed. "And?"
"Mother has quite an extensive circle of friends." Blaise said. "I asked and she says there are currently no known descendants of Slytherin. The last parselmouths were the Gaunts."
Parselmouth? The ability to speak to snakes... He could do that, couldn't he? But he wasn't a Gaunt, or he would have used his real name... Then how- not important. He was the last known parselmouth. She nodded.
Then Draco took his turn. "The last known opening was in 1942, a Hufflepuff girl got killed and they threatened to close the school."
"But they didn't?"
"Nah, shortly after that Hagrid was charged and the Chamber closed again. Father says that it was Dumbledore's choice to keep the oaf around and that it's his fault the Chamber has opened again. He's trying to get Dumbledore fired."
"The thought of Hagrid being the heir of Slytherin both infuriates and amuses me." Blaise muttered.
Anna ignored it and stood. 1942. She knew that year. Could it be? She turned to the exit.
"Anna?"
She ignored her cousin's questioning look and walked out, not minding the fact that Draco, Blaise, Greg, Vince, Pansy, Daphne and Theo followed her. Quite large group that would draw attention if they were caught but, for the moment, she didn't care.
She lit up her wand and ran to the hall of trophies, the others panting behind her. As soon as she got there she started scanning the shelves.
"Anna what are you doing? It's past curfew." Pansy complained. "Let's go."
Anna shushed her and kept looking. "Help me find a trophy. To Tom Riddle for services to the school." At their staring she scowled. "Well, go on!"
It took a while, far too many trophies had been accumulated over the centuries, but finally Daphne cried out: "I've got it!"
Anna hurried over. 1942-1943. Tom Riddle. Services to the school. Parselmouth. It wasn't Hagrid, it was him. He framed Hagrid because they were going to close the school otherwise. He lived in an orphanage.
He didn't have any children. He didn't have an heir. It was him. It was him she felt... on the second floor corridor. By the bathroom with... a girl's ghost. Anna took off running.
"Not again." She heard someone curse before they followed her.
It was a longer run, she had to get all the way to the other side of the castle without being caught with a bunch of others on her tail, but eventually they got there. She stood with her ear against the door. Myrtle wasn't there, otherwise they'd be able to hear her. She opened the door and immediately froze.
It wasn't as strong as it had been before. In fact it was almost gone, but he had been here. Had he, though? The last time she'd seen him he was less than a ghost, not dead but very close to it. She walked forwards to a sink. Her reflection stared back at her from the mirror, dimly she could make out the others panting behind her.
"What now?" Draco sighed.
Anna shook her head. "Hush."
Her fingers went up to the tap and traced a carved snake. Her fingers tingled from the left over... magic? If he was less than a ghost he couldn't have done this himself... he needed a body, someone to possess... but Quirrell hadn't been able to speak parseltongue because... why? Maybe it was different. Quirrell had had the Dark Lord's magic... and so did she, but she couldn't speak parseltongue. But she only had his magic not... not him. It wasn't his magic, this felt different. This felt more... more solid, even more solid than he had felt while possessing Quirrell so... so if it was him but not the whole him and not just his magic what was left?
She looked back down at her fingers. They tingled. And it clicked.
Suddenly she turned around and stared at her friends, blinking at them owlishly, and she ran back to the dungeons, her friends cursing behind her once more. Once there, she ignored the strange looks she got from the other students present and shoved her way to her room. She left the door open and her friends barged inside, each of them demanding answers in their own unique way. Not all of them polite.
She ignored them and dug up Secrets of the Darkest Arts. Desperately, she leafed through it, trying to find what she was looking for. There. Horcruxes.
"A part of one's soul, split off and hidden in an object may keep one alive after one's body is destroyed. The soul fragment will have the memories and abilities of the maker if given enough power, otherwise the horcrux will remain dormant." She read. That was it. A horcrux was possessing someone, someone who gave it power and it was opening the Chamber. Her head snapped to her friends who had quieted down and were waiting for her, albeit quite impatiently.
Her fingers tingled.
"Ginny Weasley." She said.
"What about her?" Draco asked, rubbing the back of his head frustratedly.
Anna chose her words carefully. "She's being possessed and opening the Chamber. It's in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She has a... a little black book. Small, old, bound in leather... We need to keep an eye on her and... if possible, get that book."
"Why?" Pansy groaned.
Because it had part of the Dark Lord's soul. If something happened to it he might die. She didn't know if it was his only one so she couldn't take the risk.
"Wait. Black? Small? Are you sure?" Draco asked, frowning.
"Yes, why?"
"Father gave it to her, or more like sneaked it between her things in Flourish and Blotts."
'He's trying to get Dumbledore fired.' He could get them all killed. If something happened to it... Anna stopped her train of thought there, too terrified of the consequences to continue. "Now we definitely have to get it back. Draco, if something happens to that book, Uncle Lucius will be killed."
Draco paled.
"But for now, just keep an eye on her. As long as she isn't caught the book is safe. Don't go stealing it recklessly or we'll be caught and that will give us a lot of unnecessary trouble. Got it?" She bit out, staring at each of them in turn.
They nodded.
"Good."
Anna felt her feet drag over the stones as they got closer and closer to the Great Hall. DADA was bad enough, now she also had to miss Potions to see the air-headed idiot make a fool of himself? A groan escaped her.
"We all know how you feel." Daphne said from beside her.
"I thought you liked him." Anna mumbled without looking at her.
"Of course I do. So do Pansy, Mil and Tracey, but as pretty as he is, he's absolutely useless." She tucked a long strand of golden hair behind her ear, showing off the large pearl that hung from it. "There's nothing wrong with having some eye-candy but I'm not interested in him if he's a fraud. It's only too obvious."
"He's a terrible actor." Tracey agreed from Anna's other side.
Anna smiled. She liked walking with just the girls every once in a while; it felt different. Though the only reason she was walking with just the girls was because Pansy had been fussing with her hair, trying to straighten it out properly because she hated when it curled (as her hair did naturally) and claimed that Anna already had the curly look and she wanted her own. So they had waited for her to straighten it like every morning only this time it took longer because some little first year thought it would be funny to jinx Pansy behind her back so that her hair curled all over again.
Anna had not been amused, particularly when they had found out that the boys had already left without them. The nerve of some people.
As they entered the Great Hall, Anna walked to where the Slytherin table usually was and stood with her back against the wall, decidedly ignoring the flamboyant man standing on the table in the middle of the hall. The girls crowded to one side of her and soon enough Draco was leaning against the wall on her right. He dragged a couple of fingers through his slicked back hair.
"How are you this morning?" He asked.
"Annoyed."
"Who did it?"
"Does it matter? His digestive system won't be giving him a break anytime soon and that is all that needs to be said." She muttered, trying to omit her annoyance at him for the time being. He was having enough of a time, what with his constant tantrums about Potter and Quidditch. Though for her part she thought he was overreacting.
Draco scrunched up his nose in disgust but said nothing as Lockhart started talking.
"Gather 'round! Gather 'round!" He called out, spinning in his peacock colored cloak and smiling as if they were paying him for it, which technically they were. "Can everybody see me? Can everybody hear me?"
"Unfortunately." Blaise said, just low enough that the only ones who heard him were the Slytherins around him and Professor Snape, who frankly seemed to agree with him, if only by the way his eyes glittered in amusement for a fraction of a second.
"Excellent! In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves, as I myself have done on countless occasions- for full details see my published works."
"Will he ever shut up?" Anna muttered, closing her eyes. She was severely tempted to ask Snape to send her to the hospital wing for her 'magic allergy', though if how Lockhart had handled Potter's arm was anything to go by she'd rather not take the risk of the fool trying to do any magic on her if he overheard her.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape. He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry- you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear. One-"
"Am I the only one who's jealous of Professor Snape?" Tracey asked.
At that second, Lockhart stopped counting and Snape's sharp voice cut through the sudden silence.
"Expelliarmus."
"No." The slytherins answered her as they watched Lockhart fly through the air and land on his arse, much to the amusement and pleasure of all the students.
"Are you packed for tomorrow?" Anna asked, dropping down next to Draco on his bed.
"Oh, yeah. I can't wait to go home." He said. "What do you think we'll get for christmas this year?"
"Another ball and an evening of taking care of guests?"
Draco groaned.
"Uncle Lucius?" Anna knocked on the door to his study. "May I come in?"
Her uncle sat behind his solid, ornately carved desk, reading something in the low candle light. His silvery blonde hair reflected the light that made it look like he was glowing. He looked up at her in surprise but offered her a barely visible smile.
"Of course. Come in Anna." He pointed a finger at the chair in front of his desk.
Anna walked forwards, carefully smoothing down the pretty creme skirt she was wearing and moved a few curls behind her ear, showing the simple silver earring she had chosen that morning.
"I know you gave Ginny Weasley that book." She started, watching his eyebrows rise in surprise. "And I know that's what opened the Chamber."
She didn't know if he knew it was a horcrux so she chose to keep quiet about that.
"I know the Dark Lord gave it to you. If something happens to it... If this plan backfires it could get us all killed." She paused. "I'm keeping her out of people's way as much as I can and soon I will be taking the book and closing the Chamber. I don't know when that will be seeing as I have to wait for an opening but you should try to get Dumbledore fired before that."
Lucius' eyes bored into hers, turning cold.
"It could get us all killed." She stressed.
He shook his head. "Very well." He sighed. "Do inform me when you have it in you possession. Was there anything else?"
Anna bit her lip. "Do I have to dance tonight?"
An amused smirk graces her uncle's lips. "Yes. Now go get dressed."
Anna huffed and left. In her room she quickly put on a blue chiffon dress and some jewelry before heading to the ballroom which had been decorated to perfection. The ceiling was sprayed with ice to form beautiful patterns. The pillars were draped with silver, green and red ribbons that had golden stars dangling from them. The floors were polished until she could almost see her own reflection and a thick carpet had been placed to one end where the orchestra would soon take place. To one side an incredibly long table with a white and gold tablecloth had been placed by the windows and was covered with all sorts of food and drinks with plates and silverware and goblets to one side. By the large table, lots of smaller tables with chairs, red and green tablecloths and a bouquet of flowers were placed in a snowflake pattern. High in the air hundreds of golden and silver colored candles were floating, already lit. Truly another grand Malfoy Christmas Ball.
Anna sighed and took a seat by one of the small tables, mentally preparing herself for an evening of polite smiles, stuffy conversations about nothing in particular and dancing with boys and men she mostly wasn't interested in.
Maybe she'd dance with Theo. Her face heated up at the thought, which was utterly ridiculous of course. What did it matter if she had to dance with him? Naturally she would, eventually, since he was the only heir of the Notts and she was his host and blah, blah, blah. Anna bit her lip and took a deep breath. Alright, relax.
"Do you know who the heir is?" Vince asked Draco.
Draco's eyes snapped to him. Reading? And he couldn't possibly be thick enough to forget what Anna told them a some time ago... His eyes turned to Anna, who had just entered followed by Theo. Honestly they were spending way too much time together for his liking.
"Anna!" He called, waving her over imperiously. "Come over here!"
He saw her look over at him and then at Theo. Draco never ordered her about so she must notice something was wrong, right? Vince and Greg didn't bat an eyelash at him talking to her like that which they would have, normally.
Anna sat down next to him, looking at him curiously. Theo had already left.
"Vince asked if I knew who the heir of Slytherin was, any ideas?" He raised an eyebrow at her. Anna's eyes lit up in understanding and she turned to Vince and Greg, studying them. "I don't know who it is, though didn't your father say something about Hagrid?"
"Oh, yeah! That's why his wand was snapped." Draco played along, keeping his eyes on Anna to see if she was alright with what he said. She nodded slightly.
"Anyway, it can't possibly be Potter." She continued.
"Why not?" Draco asked.
"Have you actually met him? Do you think he'd go around attacking mudbloods?"
Suddenly Greg and Vince stood up and left, ignoring Draco's outraged cries. As soon as they were out the door he turned to her.
"What was wrong with them?"
"That wasn't them, I don't think." She shook her head. "Even they aren't stupid enough to forget something that important."
"So who were they? And why did they look exactly the same?"
Anna narrowed her eyes as she looked at the entrance hole. "Polyjuice potion. And I don't know who they are."
"Do you want to find out?"
"Not particularly. They didn't find out anything of worth and finding out who they are will take effort and time we can't spare from keeping Weasley out of people's suspicion." She shrugged. "Let's go and find the real Greg and Vince."
Anna put down her quill, reading her just finished essay for Transfiguration with a content smile on her face. Another O for sure.
Her thoughts turned to the announcement of a short while ago. All students were to go to their common rooms immediately. An emergency perhaps? Maybe Ginny/Tom had killed someone and this would get Dumbledore fired. She rubbed her eyes. Also maybe not but whatever. Hagrid had been carted off to Azkaban, that was the only thing Lucius had achieved as of yet, but she hadn't made much progress in stealing the book either so she couldn't actually judge him. Anna sighed and leaned back in her chair.
Suddenly Blaise burst into the common room, not surprising anyone by not actually having obeyed the announcement. He ran straight to Anna, cheeks red and panting. He stood in front of her, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath before he spoke. She looked at him expectantly.
"So I was coming back, right? Then I passed a hallway with a message written in red, 'her bones will lie in the Chamber forever' it said, and so I went to the bathroom to see if there was anything out of the ordinary right? Because you told us to keep an eye on her. When I got there, Potter, Weasley and Lockhart were going in. I thought you would want to know." He finished, taking a deep breath.
Anna looked at him, shocked, before jumping into action. She took off her robe, cardigan and tie and shoved them into Draco's arms where he stood next to her.
"Stay here." She said as she ran out.
Her steps resounded through the deserted hallways as she ran, but she didn't care. Neither did she bother with lighting up her wand; she'd walked to the bathroom so often at night that she could find her way perfectly fine in the dark. Finally she got there.
When she opened the door, Myrtle was moaning in her stall so she made sure to keep quiet. A gaping hole stood where the sinks used to be. A damp, rotting smell rose up from it and there was no light. Anna hesitated and raised her wand, considering making some light. Would Myrtle hear it?
After a few second she decided that the ghost would not, in fact, hear a whisper over her loud wailing so she pointed her wand at the hole.
"Lumos." She whispered and jumped inside.
The silvery light made it easy to see as she slid through a rough tube at an incredible speed. The smell made her gag and the little rocks and other bumps quickly made scratches and bruises on her bare legs that stung a lot. She should have changed out of her skirt, damn it.
After a few seconds of painful and disgusting sliding she landed with a loud crunching on a pile of animal bones. Some small bones stuck in the cuts on her legs and she whimpered as she brushed them off her skin. A trembling hand picked some small stones and other rubble from her hair and tried to brush away the dirt that stuck to her school blouse. She raised her wand. There was a tunnel leading away from where she stood so she followed it, keeping her steps as quiet as she could.
Not far off she heard grunting.
"Nox." She muttered and the light from her wand faded. Anna kept her wand pointed forwards as she took a few moments to let her eyes get used to the dark. Then she continued.
She was greeted with a strange sight. Lockhart was passed out to one side of the tunnel, next to a large snake skin and not being of any help as could have been predicted, and Weasley was panting and moving large rocks away from a collapsed part of the tunnel. Potter was nowhere to be seen. Was he on the other side?
Weasley grunted and left himself fall to the ground, where he sat muttering to himself. Anna wasted no time in deciding.
"Stupefy." She said, pointing her wand at Weasley and he dropped. Then she pointed her wand at the blockage. "Bombarda Maxima."
The rocks were blasted aside with a loud crash and pebbles were sent flying everywhere. Anna covered her head with her hands so as to not be hurt by the debris that was hurled at her. Then she ran through the still-smoking new path, careful not to trip over whatever it was that stuck out of the ground. She panted as the cold of the tunnel chilled her while the physical effort heated her up. The scratches on her legs burned and her hands shook with nerves. This couldn't end like last year..
Then she got to a huge metal door with snakes on it. It was ajar and she could hear talking coming from the inside. The closer she got the more she felt the Dark Lord's presence, making her feel nauseous and weak.
Carefully she opened the door, thanking Merlin it didn't make a loud creaking noise. The first thing that caught her attention when she looked inside was the huge, quite dead, snake. It had a sword stabbed right through its palled and its brain. A basilisk, she thought in awe, of course.
Anna's eyes turned to the talking people, or rather person... Tom Riddle. Her eyes widened as she recognized his face even from such a distance. He was talking to Potter who kneeled by a hopefully unconscious Weasley girl. The book was next to him.
Her legs moved on their own and she stepped in the room and down a ladder. Nobody heard her steps as Riddle seemed to be incredibly interested in mocking Potter and Potter seemed like he wouldn't last long. Now that she was closer she could see that a phoenix, Dumbledore's phoenix she realized with a start, was crying on his wounds. Then something happened that made her heart stop.
Potter raised his arm and stabbed the notebook with a basilisk fang. No! Anna thought as she remembered that basilisk venom could destroy a horcrux. Tom Riddle started to disintegrate and she felt him fading. He wasn't gone yet but the book was next to destroyed, one more stab and- Potter raised his arm again.
Her legs moved on her own and she tried to scream at them to stop moving, not even knowing why. She wanted to save the horcrux, did she not? Not like this. Not like what? Her wand was raised and she stunned Potter and Weasley who had only just woken up. They fell. Her hand dropped her wand and reached- she tried to stop- she tried to freeze- her fingers grabbed the book, her palm made contact- and she screamed.
Anna felt as though a blade had been stabbed into her palm and was slowly dragged up her arm into her chest. Her heart beat so hard it felt like it would burst and her head was being compressed with such force she thought her skull would be crushed. Anna kept screaming and her legs gave out, her throat ripped with the effort and blood flooded her mouth. She fell forwards on her hands and blood dripped out of her screaming mouth. She felt bile rising. Her body shook and the pain... the pain... she felt like she was dying. Through the tears in her eyes she could see her hand had turned black but the black was moving up her wrist and arm, slowly spreading. It burned so badly she thought her skin would melt right off her flesh.
Somewhere she registered the singing of the phoenix as it tried to calm her down but she could only think about the fact that it was Dumbledore's phoenix and she struggled to her feet, fighting back the bile and spitting out blood. Her whole body trembled and her legs almost gave out and she was crying and screaming. She bit her lip to force herself into silence and it bled and even more blood flooded her mouth and trailed down her chin and dripped onto the floor.
She had to get out of there. She couldn't be found there, not by anyone. Anna's eyes frantically searched for her wand and with all the willpower she could muster she forced herself to pick it up and to leave the Chamber, as her body almost gave out and her muscles screamed and she bled and almost puked. By the time she got to the tube leading up to the bathroom, blood was flowing freely from her open and whimpering mouth. The black in her arm had spread all the way to her shoulder and she held it to her chest. She couldn't think straight with her head being crushed as it was and even the tiny amount of light there was hurt her eyes. Anna stretched a hand to the tube. She was in so much pain. It hurt so badly. Make it stop. Make it stop.
She fell to her knees and her hand touched the floor of the tube.
"Please." She whimpered, flood flowing from her mouth. But her voice didn't come out properly; it was a strangled hiss that she couldn't understand. Suddenly, with a loud crashing noise, the tunnel changed into steps and Anna forced herself to climb them, on her knees as she was.
The cuts and scrapes on her legs were made larger and the pointy pebbles on the steps buried themselves in her knees and she cried while trying to swallow her sobs and the bile and the blood and... Oh make it stop. End it here. End it now.
But it didn't end. She reached the top and she forced herself to stand and she forced herself to stay quiet and she forced herself to get to the Slytherin Dungeon. Her legs gave out thrice in the process. The moonlight hurt her eyes. The black had spread to her other arm and down her stomach. But her throat had stopped bleeding and the blood on her shirt had dried almost completely.
She get to the blank slate of wall and leaned against it, weeping in relief.
"Lily." She whispered hoarsely, relieved to hear her voice was back to normal. The wall opened up from under her and at the lack of support she fell to her knees again, making her cry out in pain. Everything was silent for a moment and she sobbed in pain as the light hurt her eyes and her body burned and her legs were bleeding again and her head and her heart and her throat- and then she was pulled up by large hands and pressed to a thick chest. An arm was supporting her back and another was supporting her legs.
"Annabelle! What happened?" A thick voice asked. She knew that voice.
"Marcus." She breathed.
"Somebody go get Malfoy!" He cried.
Anna whimpered at the loud noise. "The lights." She said, as steadily as she could.
"Somebody turn off the lights." He called out, softer this time. "We need to get you to the hospital wing. And to Snape."
"No!" She cried, wincing as bile rose up her throat. "No hospital, no Snape, bathroom now!" She forced out and she felt Marcus move as soon as he saw her retch. He put her down in a bathroom, and as soon as she felt the toilet in her hands she threw up, finally.
"Anna!"
Someone was holding back her hair and worriedly rubbing her back. Daphne. Someone else was wiping the blood off her legs with frantic urgency, Theo, she could tell from his distracted mutterings, and another person was feeling her forehead and calling for a fever potion, Pansy.
Then another more familiar pair of hands was forcing her face up to look at him. Through the dark she could make out Draco's face. He was worried and tears were streaming down his cheeks. His eyes were huge and frantic and red and she was sorry she did that.
"Anna! What happened?" He was wiping at her face and pressing her to his chest. He was trembling... or was that her? Everything still hurt but she gave a sight of relief as she felt him hold her tight.
"I saved uncle Lucius." She mumbled, wincing at the further ripping of her already healing throat. Then she pushed him away and threw up again.
The next morning she woke up in her bed. She had been changed out of her ruined clothes and dressed in her nightgown. Her legs had been bandaged as well. The pain was gone. She forced herself to sit up and she looked at her right hand. The black was gone. Her legs throbbed and so did her throat but she was alright. Anna looked around.
Draco, Pansy, Daphne, Theo and Blaise were asleep around her. She smiled softly and moved to stand. Her legs trembled and her knees folded in on themselves for a second but then she stood. She took a deep breath and moved to her trunk, avoiding the sleeping forms of her friends. She grabbed Secrets of the Darkest Arts and sat down by her desk to study.
According to the book a soul fragment had to have a container, if the container was destroyed but the horcrux wasn't yet it would look for a new container. How had the soul not been destroyed yet? Apparently, it had taken almost all of Weasley's magic from her, creating a protective shell around it as it were. The first stab had shattered the shell and container and the second would have killed it... Her- no, his magic had moved her forwards and his soul had recognized his magic and it had clamped itself onto her.
Anna put down the book in shock. She was a horcrux now. Part of her had known this already. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she saw her friends staring up at her.
"Are you alright now, Anna?" Draco asked quietly.
Anna shrugged. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize!" Her cousin snapped. "What happened?"
"Something was forcing its way into my body." She said. "My body was trying to reject it, I guess."
"Did you want that in your body?" Draco asked, frowning.
Anna shrugged. "It's not like I had a choice."
Okay, so this chapter concludes second year! I really put a lot of effort on this chapter and tried a new 'thing' while writing so please tell me if you like it or not or whatever opinion you have on it. Tell me what you think of the development and whatever you think would be a good idea! If you liked it please follow the story! :)