Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

It wasn't until Violet was seated at Slytherin Table the next morning with Theodore during breakfast that she found out that all those rumours about Rose and Ron from the night before had been true after all. Well, minus the expulsion part, which was actually quite surprising, though Violet supposed it shouldn't have been.

When did Rose ever get punished for doing something wrong? Really, to be fair, Violet didn't tend to get punished either. Did anyone? She wasn't really sure.

Sighing, Violet pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and was half way through her bowl of cereal when hundreds of owls flew into the Great Hall with the morning post. Since she never got anything herself, Violet barely glanced up and just kept eating. Well, until what sounded like an explosion went off.

"STEALING THE CAR!?" cried a very loud and very shrill voice. "I'M SURPRISED THEY DIDN'T EXPEL YOU! WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS! YOU AND ROSE COULD HAVE DIED! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME, MISTER!"

Silence descended upon the Hall before the students broke out into laughter, the Slytherins seeming to be the loudest of them all. Violet wasn't laughing though. Surprised and confused, she just blinked.

"What was that?" she asked.

Malfoy, who was seated next to Theodore across the table, replied with a snicker. "A Howler."

Seeing as that hadn't explained very much at all, Theodore took over. "It's basically a magical letter that reads itself out loud in the writer's voice. There's no getting around it either, because it'll do it whether you open it or not. Once it's done reciting, it'll burst into flames."

"And boy was Weasley's mummy angry!" Pansy Parkinson said with a shriek from nearby, clearly amused by the whole affair.

Violet was still frowning though. She had no idea why Rose and Ron had done what they had, but she was shocked her sister would do something that was clearly so stupid. If they'd needed help they could have waited or owled Ron's parents, or Dumbledore even. Hell, Rose had been raised in the Muggle world too, hadn't she? She could have even called her aunt and uncle for help using a payphone-there were tons at the station!

Why was Rose so...brash? She was a Gryffindor, yes, but that was no excuse for idiocy.

Violet was pulled out of her thoughts when Snape approached their table a moment later and began handing out their timetables. She accepted her own with a polite thank you and examined it carefully. They had Herbology first, followed by Transfiguration, and then Defence Against the Dark Arts after lunch.

"Should we head to the greenhouses?" said Theodore, pushing his empty dishes away.

Violet stashed her timetable into her bag and nodded. "No harm in being early." Getting to her feet, she swung her bag over her shoulder and together with her friend, left the Great Hall.

The two made their way outside and then down to the greenhouses, chatting vaguely about this and that until they were joined by the rest of the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, soon followed by an irritated looking Professor Sprout herself, who was muttering under her breath about Lockhart being annoying or something like that.

Violet and Theodore exchanged a glance, but said nothing and entered greenhouse three with the others curiously. They'd never been inside this one before because it held more dangerous things that the first two greenhouses didn't.

"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today," announced Professor Sprout once everyone had settled, her annoyance gone. "Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"

Neville's hand was in the air first. "It's a strong restorative and can turn anyone who's been cursed back to normal, but its cry is also deadly to anyone who hears it." And then he blushed furiously, clearly having answered instinctively, perhaps forgetting where he was and who was around. No one was surprised by his answer though, even if most of the Slytherin sneered. Neville had a real knack for this subject.

"Good boy! Ten points to Hufflepuff!"

Flushing again, Neville grinned when his House members cheered, which had Violet laughing quietly even despite the jeering of the other Slytherins. It was always nice to see Neville answering questions in class, although herbology was the only class he did that in.

As Professor Sprout had said, they repotted the Mandrakes after that, and once Herbology came to an uneventful end, the Snakes and Badgers returned to the castle to wash up before heading to their next class. The Slytherins soon found themselves sitting in Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws.

Today they were learning how to turn beetles into buttons. Violet found that taking the complicated notes was a lot easier than performing the spell. Having been unable to use magic over the summer, and having had very limited time in which she'd been able to go over her textbooks safely, Violet felt as if all her knowledge had somehow escaped her.

Then again, how many times over those two months had she needed to remind herself that all this hadn't, in fact, been a dream?

As always, Hermione was the first to accomplish their task, earning Ravenclaw a few points, and she looked quite pleased about it too. Theodore wasn't far behind her though, suddenly turning the beetle scuttling across his desk into a dark button too. He smirked, and then looked at Violet, only to see that she was scowling, her own beetle still running around. His smirk turned into a frown.

He didn't know or understand why, but ever since he'd met Violet, he'd always thought there was something a bit...odd about her magic. Even as he watched her, she struggled for another moment before finally succeeding.

Violet picked up her beetle-turned-button and examined it closely. She wasn't pleased with how long this had taken her. It was such a simple spell and yet she'd had so much trouble with it. Well, at least she'd done it before Malfoy, she supposed.

Violet and Theodore were chatting quietly in the Great Hall during lunch when Malfoy, looking quite smug and pleased, appeared at the table, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, as he usually tended to be.

He took a seat next to Theodore, dismissed the other two, and looked across the table at Violet, smirking. "Lockhart and your sister are giving out signed photos of themselves."

Violet blinked and lowered her spoon of rice. "I'm sorry, what?"

Malfoy filled his plate as he began to explain. "Have you seen Creevey yet? First year Gryffindork?"

"The name sounds vaguely familiar."

"Well, he carries a camera around with him, and he asked your sister if she would take a picture with him, and then sign it after. She agreed, and then that daft twit Lockhart joined in. And now they're giving out signed photos to anyone who asks." He shrugged. "Or doesn't."

Violet just blinked slowly and then sighed, even as Theodore shook his head in clear exasperation. Rose really had let all that fame get to her head, hadn't she? And that was hardly a good thing. Her behaviour wasn't exactly great as it was, which only made Violet wonder how much worse it was going to get as they got older.

"Speaking of Lockhart," said Theodore after a moment, "we've got Defence next."

Violet sighed again. "His books make no sense," she said to her friend as she finished up her lunch. "They're very...elaborate and detailed, but did you notice he never once explains exactly how he actually solved whatever problem the book was about? It's like that in every single one of his books!"

Having a feeling he knew where she was going with this, Theodore nodded. "He's definitely full of it."

And with that they finished their lunch, gathered their bags, and then made their way up to the Defence corridor where they once again had class with the Ravenclaws. They didn't have to wait long for Lockhart to arrive. He was dressed as exuberantly as always, hair perfectly coiffed, blue eyes glistening, white teeth glittering.

Hermione blushed. Violet and Theodore exchanged a look of disgust...

It didn't take most of the students long at all to realize that the class was a total joke. They took a quiz with questions from all of Lockhart's books, though the majority of these questions, like the books themselves, didn't really have all that much to do with Defence in the first place.

The pixies the professor attempted to deal with next weren't any better. How in the world had this guy managed to become a teacher!? Even Quirrell had been better, and he'd been terrified of everything! Although, to be fair, having the Dark Lord sticking out the back of your head would probably cause anyone to be scared all the time.

Half of the girls-and at least one of the boys, too busy fawning over Lockhart, didn't at all agree. Violet was not among them, much to Theodore's relief.

Nothing particularly exciting or interesting occurred over the rest of the week, and Violet chose to remain more focused on her lessons and homework. In fact, it wasn't until Friday that something rather odd happened.

It was late, and with tomorrow being Saturday, Violet had decided to stay up to catch up on her reading, and had settled on a shower before she started reading. She was in the middle of rinsing out her hair when she heard something quite strange indeed.

"Come..." said a low and rather eerie voice. "Come...to me. Let me...rip you. Let me...tear you. Let me...kill you..."

Startled, Violet shut off the shower and listened closer, but she heard nothing more. She cocked her head in confusion, and then shrugged, figuring she'd just been hearing things. It was hard to make anything out over the sound of the water, so it wasn't all that weird. Or so she told herself, anyway.

Violet had no way of knowing that just a few minutes later, a few floors up, Rose, who was in "detention" with Lockhart, was going to hear the very same thing she had herself, and was going to be just as confused as her.

Days went by peacefully. Or as peacefully as they could for a bunch of teens and preteens. Violet didn't bother telling Theodore about the strange voice she'd heard in the shower, and she pretty much forgot about it herself. Classes went on as usual with everyone taking notes and practising new spells and brewing more potions.

Violet didn't like Defence Against the Dark Arts much. She hadn't minded it last year, and she was very interested in the subject itself, but going to the classes taught by Lockhart was such a chore that it didn't even seem worth the minimal effort most of them had to put in. Theodore agreed with her for the most part, but Hermione vehemently disagreed. She didn't think Lockhart could do anything wrong. But that was her hormones talking, no doubt.

September turned to October, the weather chilling down while darkness began to fall a little more quickly. With this came the approach of Halloween, which was quite exciting. Well, for most.

Soon enough, it was the thirty first of October-Halloween. Violet wasn't quite as solemn as last year, but she still allowed herself a moment to pay her respects to her parents. It didn't seem as if anyone else was going to bother, and as one of their children, there was no reason why she shouldn't or couldn't. She had respect for what they had done for her and her sister, after all, even if she was still kind of miffed about it.

There was a restlessness by most in their classes that day, everyone no doubt eager for the feast that evening. Violet was feeling a little excited herself. Normal meals at Hogwarts were extravagant enough, but the feasts were just way out there. There never really seemed to be any fights between the Houses on Halloween either, probably because of all the excitement.

Classes couldn't have ended soon enough and staff and students alike filed into the Great Hall later that evening. Once everyone was seated, the food and drink and candy appeared and they all began to eat and chat with their companions, everyone enjoying themselves. It seemed most had already forgotten what had happened last year with that troll being let in.

As she ate and chatted with Theodore, Violet only vaguely noticed that neither Rose nor Ron appeared to be in the Hall. She was enjoying herself too much to really pay much attention to it, and even Theodore merely shrugged when she absently mentioned it to him. Frankly, they were in no mood to ponder over what idiotic thing the two Gryffindors were up to this time...

The feast went uninterrupted, unlike the previous year, and eventually everyone began to leave. They'd only made it to the Entrance Hall when there was a sudden commotion from some of the students. When others, Violet and Theodore included, curious to see what was happening, approached, they all found out what that commotion was about.

They were near the girl's lavatory on the first floor. Squeezing through the many students to get closer to the front of the group so she could see, Violet frowned immediately at the strange sight that greeted her like it just had so many others. The floor was wet but that was the least odd thing here. There was a cat, Mrs Norris, they all recognized, hanging from a torch bracket by her tail. She wasn't moving. But the oddest thing of all was the wall behind her. There was something written on it in what was either red paint or blood, both options unpleasant.

'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware.'

Violet just stared. What in the world did all of that even mean? What was the Chamber of Secrets? Who was the Heir? Who were this Heir's enemies? Then she frowned again when she noticed Rose Ron standing right by the hanging cat, looking quite guilty. ...Had they done this? But how? And why?

"Enemies of the Heir, beware?" Malfoy repeated, sounding rather amused. "You'll be next, mudbloods!"

Violet's frown only deepened. This was hardly the first time she had heard that word. It was spoken quite often by the Slytherins, and she had asked Theodore what it meant long ago. But just because she knew what it meant didn't mean she liked hearing it, or even approved of what it stood for. After all, not only was Hermione a Muggleborn, but her own mother had been one too, and Violet wasn't fond of associating either of them with the word mudblood...

Likely drawn by the crowd, Filch himself arrived suddenly and it didn't take him long at all to notice the predicament his beloved cat was in. He became absolutely hysterical, shouting at Rose and Ron, even threatening to kill them. Luckily Dumbledore arrived at the scene before Filch could actually do anything to harm the two.

For a brief moment the Headmaster stared at the seemingly dead cat, before looking at Rose and Ron, who were standing right under it, and then looking at the words written on the stone wall and then, for some reason, glancing over at Violet.

"Return to your common rooms immediately," he said suddenly, his voice stern and his expression hard. But as everyone turned to leave, he called three of them back. "Not you three, Rose, Ronald, Violet."

Rose and Ron both paused in place, still looking oddly guilty, but Violet froze. Why on earth was she being told to stay back? She hadn't done anything! Theodore shrugged and hesitantly patted her on the back before heading off, leaving Violet to follow her sister and Ron, along with Dumbledore, Filch, Lockhart, McGonagall, and Snape. They headed over to Lockhart's office, which was closest...and covered in photos and posters of himself.

...Ick.

Mrs Norris was set down on Lockhart's desk and Dumbledore examined her closely, murmuring to himself under his breath while the Defence professor blabbered on about who even knew what, and Filch sobbed loudly.

Violet wasn't really listening though, still trying to figure out why she'd been asked to stay back when she obviously hadn't done anything wrong. ...Unless enjoying the Halloween feast was now against the rules or something, in which case every student in the castle should have been in this office with her. That would be pretty cramped though.

"She is not dead," said Dumbledore abruptly, straightening up to his full height.

Lockhart and Filch both fell silent immediately, and the two Gryffindors looked quite relieved. Violet just tried not to frown, still very confused about what was going on. The cat definitely looked dead to her.

"Not dead?" Filch echoed in disbelief.

"No. She has been petrified." Dumbledore looked at the cat again, then said, "It can be undone fairly easily, though it will take some months. Professor Sprout has recently come into a new batch of mandrakes. Once they have matured, Professor Snape will be able to brew a potion that will be able to cure poor Mrs Norris."

McGonagall frowned. "But how could this have happened, Headmaster?"

Filch's face contorted in anger. "It was them! Those two! They did it!" he cried, pointing at Rose and Ron with a shaky finger, his face red with fury. "I saw them! They were standing right-right by her!"

"We didn't do anything!" Rose exclaimed quickly, looking very pale.

"We just found her like that!" said Ron just as loudly.

Snape stepped forward now, expression stoic, though his eyes flashed. "I do not recall seeing the two of you at the feast," he said softly, his suspicion clear.

And then, immediately, the two launched into explaining how they had been attending the Death Day party being held by Nearly Headless Nick-Gryffindor House's ghost, and how they'd been returning to their common room when they had come across Mrs Norris, only to soon be joined by everyone else.

Snape didn't believe them. He claimed it was odd that they were going to go to bed without eating anything, for he knew ghosts didn't offer food edible for the living, and if the flush rising on the Gryffindors' cheeks and the sudden hesitation had anything to do with it, the Potions Master wasn't exactly wrong.

But Dumbledore didn't seem to agree. "Come now, Severus. It could simply be a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time." Now he looked towards Violet, who had been standing near the door, watching the proceedings and listening carefully. "And where were you when this occurred, my dear?"

Violet blinked even as Snape turned, looking a little surprised, but it didn't take her long to understand what exactly the old Headmaster was implying, and she tried not to scowl. "I was in the Great Hall," she said as patiently as she could, "at Slytherin Table, enjoying the feast with my friend and housemates. I only saw what happened when everyone else did." She couldn't believe Dumbledore thought she had something to do with this! And for that matter, why did he think she had something to do with this?

Luckily for Violet, it was McGonagall of all people who was able to back up her alibi, claiming she could distinctly recall seeing Violet with Theodore Nott at Slytherin Table during the feast. Dumbledore looked at Violet closely when he heard that, his blue eyes locked on her green, giving her a very odd, almost...probing feeling that made her feel quite uncomfortable.

This entire situation was very bizarre, and Violet found that she was very pleased when she, Rose, and Ron were dismissed. As the two Gryffindors and the Slytherin went their separate ways, Violet was sure she could hear her sister mentioning something about a strange voice she'd heard, but she was too far away to really make out any of the context.

While she didn't know what exactly Rose was talking about, all that did was remind Violet of the odd voice she'd heard herself some time ago. Or rather, the odd voice she thought she'd heard. Had that been real then? And had her sister heard it as well? What were the odds of that happening though? And what did it even mean if they'd both heard it?

The dungeon common room was surprisingly loud when Violet entered it a few minutes later, everyone talking rather eagerly about the Chamber of Secrets being opened and what that meant. But Violet found herself pleased to realize that she wasn't the only one who was completely lost. There were other Snakes that appeared to be just as confused as she was, some older than her, and some younger.

Violet approached Theodore, who was seated with a few others, and sat down beside him, smoothing her skirt out under her. "Hey, Theo? What's the Chamber of Secrets?" She couldn't recall ever having heard or read about it before, and since she'd just sort of been partially blamed for whatever had just happened, well, she wanted to know.

Those near enough to have heard her fell silent almost immediately, many of them looking over at her in clear hesitation. It was obvious they were still trying to come to terms with a Potter being Sorted into their noble House. After some contemplation and the repeat of the girl's question by other legit Slytherins, those who knew finally began to explain.

No one really knew any details, but the Chamber of Secrets had been created by Salazar Slytherin, and he had left a monster of some sort in it that obeyed in his 'desire' to rid Hogwarts of all Muggleborns. When Salazar had left, none of the other Founders had ever been able to find this Chamber or its monster.

And then, about fifty years ago, the Chamber had been opened for the first time since Salazar had left, and this had resulted in a Muggleborn dying, though no one seemed to know who it had been. Either that or they just didn't want to say anything. Still, someone had found out who had been behind it, and the culprit had been expelled, though again, no one seemed to know who exactly any of the involved were.

Malfoy claimed his father had told him all this too, but had always refused to give him any names when he'd asked. Violet frowned and wondered what Hermione would be able to figure out if she told her all this. She was a damn good researcher, wasn't she?

Nevertheless, Violet wasn't quite sure what to think about all of this. Was this Chamber really open again? Was the monster within it really loose once more? If yes, then who was behind it? The older Slytherins said the previous culprit had been expelled and either way, that was fifty years ago. There was no way the same person could be behind it this time too, right?

And why in the world had Dumbledore insinuated that she'd been the one to attack Filch's cat when it was obvious she'd been in the Great Hall the entire time? What was the point in any of this? Why was all of this happening?

If this monster was going to do what it had last time and attack Muggleborns, was Hermione in danger? Violet sincerely hoped the attack on Mrs Norris was the only one that was going to happen.

Halloween day came to an end with far too many questions being asked and not enough answers to appease those asking them.

That's it for now. looking forward to reviews! Laterz!