XIII. Perplexing
Completely baffling, very puzzling.
A couple of days later, Jayla walks upstairs from the Dungeon after their Potions less with Snape, who gives them three scrolls worth of homework on the history of the Strengthening Solution, and the negative and positive effects of the potions. A scroll on each.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
The Golden Quartet and their peers make it to their next lesson of the day, which is a lot better than the last so far. The Gryffindors walk to Classroom 102 but see a note to go to Greenhouse 3 instead. The class standing in the glass greenhouse on either side of the plant stands. Jayla stands with Hermione, looking carefully inside the plant pots around the room to see something inside, but it isn't clear what it is. "Morning, everyone! Good morning everyone!" Professor Sprout greets them, walking in from the back room and banging on a plant pot to gain the class' attention.
"Good morning, Professor Sprout!" The class chimes back, happy to see the woman.
"Welcome back to Greenhouse 3, Second Years. Now, gather around, everyone. Today, we are going to re-pot Mandrakes." She announces, turning around, picking up a pot behind her, and putting it on the bench. "Who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?" Sprout looks around the students and sees Hermione has her hand up. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used to return those who have been Petrified to their original state. It's also quite dangerous. The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it." Hermione explains, and Jayla smiles at her as everyone looks at her.
"Sounds like when Ron sings." Jayla jokes, making everyone laugh though Professor Sprout gives her a warning look. "Sorry, Professor. Also, their leafs are used to become Animagi."
"Excellent! 2o points to Gryffindor! Now, as our Mandrakes are still only seedlings, their cries won't kill you yet. But they could knock you out for several hours, which is why I have given each of you a pair of earmuffs for auditory protection. So, could you please put them on right away! Quickly!" Sprout warns them, and the students pick the earmuffs in front of them, placing them on their heads. "Flaps tight down and watch me closely. You grasp your Mandrake firmly, you pull it sharply up out of the pot…." She pulls the Mandrake out of the warm soil, making an ear-piercing scream like a tiny newborn baby, which is what it sort of looks like. "Got it? And… now you dunk it down into the other pot and pour a little sprinkling of soil to keep him warm." The class watch the Herbology Professor as she places the Mandrake in an empty flower pot and sprinkles a little soil quickly when Neville falls with a thud on the floor, growing light-headed, making the class look at the boy. "Uh, Longbottom's been neglecting his earmuffs."
"No, ma'am, he's just fainted." Seamus corrects her, looking at the unconscious form of his dorm mate.
"Yes, well, just leave him there." Professor Sprout dismisses the poor boy. "Right! On we go! Plenty of pots to go around. Grasp your Mandrake, and pull it up!" She reminds them, and Jayla grasps the root with everyone else, then they pull them quickly out of the soil with dozens of shrieking Mandrakes. Draco stupidly puts his finger in the seedling's mouth, which snaps its jaw shut, and he struggles to pull his finger free unharmed. The class place them into a new empty pot sprinkling on fresh soil while Harry and Ron laugh about something, and Jayla shakes her head at them, throwing some leftover dirt their way, making them stop their laughter.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Finally, it's lunchtime after Herbology, and Nearly Headless Nick floats down the corridor outside the Great Hall, passing some students. "There's Nearly Headless Nick." A group of first-year boys gawk at the floating ghost.
"Hello, Percy, Miss Clearwater." Sir Nicholas greets the couple, who stroll past him, doffing his head like a hat.
"Hello, Sir Nicholas." Percy greets him, and the ghost turns into the Great Hall, passing the Golden Quartet sitting at the Gryffindor table as Ron sellotapes his broken wand back together. "Huh… say it. I'm doomed." Ron groans, looking at it with the tape still attached.
"You're doomed." Harry agrees, and Jayla takes a bite of her cheese and tomato sandwich while making a noise of agreement.
"Hi, Harry!" A cheery voice comes from behind the group, greeting the famous young Wizard, and then a flash appears over Jayla's shoulder, stunning Harry. "I'm Colin Creevy! I'm in Gryffindor, too!"
"Oh - Hi, Colin. Nice to meet you." Harry greets him back, slightly stunned by the flashing light.
"Say, do you think your friend here could take a photo of me and you standing together?" Colin requests with a cheery smile. "You know, to prove I've met you. It's for my Dad. He's a Milkman, you know. A Muggle, like all our family's been until me. No one knew all this odd stuff I could do was Magic till we got our letter from Hogwarts. Everyone just thought I was mental." Jayla looks next to her at Hermione, who has a funny look on her face, knowing her best friend can relate.
"Imagine that," Ron teases him, and Jayla kicks him in the shin, which earns a yelp from the ginger.
"Ron? Is that your owl?" Dean questions, interrupting them as the Weasley family owl comes flying toward them with a red letter in its beak, nosediving into the chips in the middle of the table. Ron and Harry try picking them up as everyone else laughs.
"Bloody bird's a menace." Ron complains and takes the red envelope from the owl's beak before it gets to its feet and flies off. "Oh, no!"
"Look, everyone! Weasley's got himself a Howler!" Seamus exclaims, gaining everyone's attention as they giggle.
"Go on, Ron. I ignored one from my Gran once. It was horrible." Neville warns him, and Ron looks at the red envelope in his hand, turning it around slowly and opening the seal.
"RONALD WEASLEY!" Molly Weasley's voice booms around the Great Hall from within the letter, frightening Ron, making him drop the Howler onto the table, which levitates in the air before turning into a mouth. "HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED" YOUR FATHER'S NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!" It gets right in the cowering Ron's face, who looks like he's about to wet himself, and turns away from him toward Ginny. "Oh, and Ginny, dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." The Howler turns back to Ron blowing a raspberry in his face before ripping itself up.
"Well, that was dramatic." Jayla comments, trying to lighten the mood.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
The first weekend was boring as Hermione made her friends do their Potions homework, and Jayla had to say she wasn't looking forward to their day's first lesson. DADA, the last time their Professor made them do a stupid quiz on him. On Friday, he made them do a paper on his book, "Wandering with Werewolves". Jayla still believes he never did any of those things or doesn't know any real Werewolves, unlike her father, Daniel, whose best friend is a Werewolf. Has been for over 20 years. In Jayla's opinion, Gilderoy Lockhart is a complete moron.
Jayla sits in the same classroom next to Hermione at the front again, looking up to see the door open to his office, and he walks out with the same stupid grin. "Welcome again to Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to Wizardkind. You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. I must ask you not to scream. It might… provoke them!" Lockhart warns the class, walking over to a covered cage that shakes as he rips the cloth from the birdcage to reveal cornish Pixies?
"Cornish Pixies?" Seamus laughs with the rest of the class, relaxing.
"Freshly caught Cornish Pixies!" He argues, and still, Seamus laughs. "Laugh if you will, Mr Finnigan, but Pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters. Let's see what you make of them. Ha!" He releases them from the cage, and the little troublemakers zoom out of the birdcage, causing chaos around the room. "Come on now - round them up, round them up. They're only Pixies!" He teases the second-year students. Jayla uses her heavy Transfiguration textbook to battle to keep the mischievous Pixies away from herself when two of them hold onto Neville's ears, pulling him up toward the chandelier and causing him to cry in pain.
"Hey, get me down!" Neville shouts as the Pixies hook his robe onto the chandelier, and she sees another tugging on Hermione's hair.
"Get off me!" Hermione yells, and the young Heiress runs to her aid with her book.
"Stop! Hold still!" Jayla yells, using the book to bat them away.
"Peskipiksi Pesternomi!" Lockhart tries the spell, but nothing happens as the Pixies continue causing chaos around the classroom, and they take his wand right out of his hand,
"That didn't work!" She shouts, covering her head from the flying Pixies when she notices one of them flying with Lockhart's wand toward the ceiling, and the Dragon skeleton falls, crashing to the floor in pieces.
"I'll ask you four to just nip the rest of them back into their cage!" He yells outside his office and shuts himself inside, leaving the Pixies to the Golden Quartet as the rest of their classmates have gone due to the chaos.
"What do we do now?" Ron questions, holding two books to swat away the Pixies like the rest of his friends, when Hermione huffs, getting out her wand, standing up and swishing it around.
"Immobulus!" Hermione shouts, and a wave of Magic encases the flying Pixies to stop in midair.
"Why is it always me?" Neville asks, looking down at the others from the chandelier.
"Not a clue." Jayla lightly jokes, getting out her wand, walking toward the back of the golden birdcage, and placing it slightly inside. "Carpe Retractum!" Strings of lights stream out the wand's tip, wrapping around the suspended Pixies, and with a tug of her wrist, they fly into the cage once again, and Ron closes the door, locking them inside.
"Hang on, Neville!" Hermione assures him, and the young Heiress glances up before sharing a look with each other.
"Wingardium Leviosa." The girls cast, swishing their wands and slowly levitating Neville down from the chandelier, and he pulls at his robes once his feet hit the floor, and they walk out of the classroom.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
"What a joke," Jayla laughs, walking downstairs from the third floor, heading for Transfiguration, shaking her head, entirely baffled by Lockhart's complete uselessness.
"Tell me about it." Harry groans. "Are your ears all right, Neville?"
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Several days later, Jayla stands in line with a few other Gryffindor students in her year and higher as Oliver Wood stands in front of the group looking over them. In the background, she sees the official members, mainly Harry, look nervously, but she grips her brand new Nimbus 2001. Listening to Oliver babble on about the team rules and such. "Okay, we'll start with some drills."
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
The next day, Jayla nervously waits as Oliver gathers the Chaser applicants in the Common Room and announces the new Chaser for the year. "I'm sorry I can't give you all the spot, but only one impressed us the most. Our very own dear Darkmore, Jayla." Wood declares, smiling, and she can't help smiling brightly as everyone claps in congratulations. Jayla jumps from the armchair, hugging her friends and classmates, especially Harry, as they will be teammates for the year.
"I can't believe it!" Jayla squeals.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
A few days after the announcement and it's finally the first training session of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and Jayla walks with her broom in hand through the corridor toward the Clocktower courtyard to the Quidditch with the rest of the team in her new Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. "I spent the summer devising a whole new Quidditch program. We are gonna train earlier, harder, and longer. What - I don't believe it!" Oliver sighs, rushing into the courtyard with the rest behind him, and the Slytherin team is heading out for practice. "Where do you think you're goin', Flint?"
"Uh, oh. I smell trouble." Ron mutters to Hermione as they sit outside going over their homework, one of them reluctantly, and he spots the two Quidditch teams about to clash.
"Quidditch practise." Flint replies with the obvious.
"I booked the Pitch for Gryffindor today." Oliver replies, and Jayla doesn't like the look in Marcus' eyes.
"Easy, Wood. I've got a note." He replies, taking it out and passing it to Wood, who reads it.
"I, Professor Severus Snape, do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practice today, owing to the need to train their new Seeker." The Gryffindor Captain reads the note aloud. "You've got a new Seeker? Who?" He asks, looking up from the note at the Slytherin team, and Draco pushes through to the front of the group with a smug look.
"Malfoy?" Harry gapes in shock as Ron and Hermione join the two teams.
"Draco?" Jayla quizzes, tilting her head.
"That's right. And that's not all that new this year." Draco boasts, showing the new brooms around the team, which are the same as Jayla's.
"Those are Nimbus 2001s! How did you get those?" Ron asks, looking at the broomsticks in awe.
"A gift from Draco's father." Flint boasts, which seems sadder than anything.
"You see, Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best." Draco taunts Ron.
"Button it, Drake. Not all of us got on the team for the pretty gifts their daddies got them." Jayla teases him, moving to show her broom that's the same as theirs.
"True, no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." Hermione jumps in with pride, and she smiles at her best friend.
"No one asked your opinion." Draco snarls at her, stepping to stand in front of her. "You filthy little Mudblood!" He hits her with that filthy name coming from his mouth while most students gasp at the word he spat.
"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy. Eat slugs!" Ron says, but the curse backfires, sending himself flying, and the Gryffindors run to his aid as he looks a little green in the face, and Hermione kneels by his side, helping him sit up.
"You okay, Ron? Say something!" Hermione tells him in worry as he turns over, vomiting up a slug, making everyone cringe, showing their disgust when a camera flashes from behind them. Colin.
"Wow! Can you turn him around, Harry?" Colin asks in excitement with his camera at the ready.
"No, Colin! Get out of the way!" Harry snaps, worried about his friend. "Let's take him to Hagrid's." He takes Ron's arm with Hermione, grabbing the young red-haired boy and lifting him to his feet before he belches up another slug. "He'll know what to do." The three of them quickly walk off, dragging Ron past the others with the Slytherins laughing amongst themselves. Jayla goes off with them but stops, whipping around and storming towards Draco as he laughs and swings at him, punching him across the face before running to catch up with her friends, hearing the Gryffindors cheering for her and the Snakes shouting.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
The Golden Quartet make it to Hagrid's hut, and Jayla runs ahead to knock on the door. As it opens, Ron vomits up another slug with Harry and Hermione carrying him, and Hermione explains what happened but not in her usual chipper tone. Inside, it's rather crowded but cosy as the tweens sit as Hagrid comes over with a large wooden pail. "Well, this calls for a specialist's equipment. Nothin' to do but wait'll it stops, I'm afraid." Hagrid informs them, sitting opposite the children, handing it over to Ron, who cradles it, vomiting another slug, sitting between his friends. "Better out than in. Who's Ron tryin' to curse, anyway?"
"Malfoy. He called Hermione… um, well, I don't - I don't know exactly what it means." Harry replies, frowning and rubbing Ron's back to try to soothe his friend, who seems greener.
"He called me a Mudblood." Hermione spits out, getting up from the couch next to Jayla, looking upset.
"He did not!" Hagrid gasps, looking at the upset little Witch as Harry tries comforting Ron.
"What's a Mudblood?" Harry questions, looking at the others, who keep forgetting he doesn't know much about the Wizarding World.
"It means dirty blood. Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born. Someone with Non-Magic parents. Someone like me." Hermione snaps, growing angry, and Jayla sees her friend close to tears and gets up, walking to her friend and holding her hand. "It's not a term one usually hears in civilised conversation."
"See, the thing is. Harry, there're some Wixards, like the Malfoy family, who think they're better'n everyone else because they're what people call Pure-blood." Hagrid explains some more, and Hermione clutches her best friend's hand.
"That's Horribe!" Harry snaps, raging inside when Ron vomits a slug again as the ravenette finally understands the awful name Draco spat at Hermione
"It's digusting." Ron agrees, growing greener.
"And it's codswallop, to boot. Dirty blood, why there isn't a Wizard alive today, that's not Half-blood or less. More fer the point, they've yet to think of a spell that our Hermione can't do. Come here…" Hagrid says, seeing the tears in her eyes and holding his hand out for her. Jayla walks her over, giving her a small smile, and Hermione places her other hand in the kind Groundskeeper's hand. "Don't you think on it, Hermione? Don't you think on it for one minute…eh?"
"Exactly. I mean, the Darkmores and Weasleys are also Pure-bloods, but the common term for snobs in Blood traitors." Jayla adds, and Harry looks at her confused again, making her sigh. "We really need to get you a book on Wizard phrases. Blood traitors, to say the Malfoys or my Mum's side of the family, meaning they don't have the same values toward Muggles or Muggle-borns. I mean, let's face it, like Hagrid said, most Witches and Wizards these days are either Muggle-borns or Half-bloods like you." The others look at her strangely. "What? It's too commonplace nowadays. Pure-blood families all think too narrow-mindedly, especially the Malfoys. It's not like the history of Pure-bloods is impressive. Most of them are insane."
"It's quite impressive how your mind works, Jayla." Hagrid comments, looking at her, and she smiles.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
The weekend comes, and it's All Hallows Eve. Ron and Hermione sitting in the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast, waiting for Harry and Jayla, who cannot be seen anywhere as Ron stuffs his face. "Ron, where's Harry?" Hermione asks him after he returns from the Dungeons from his detention, cleaning out the Potion Storage with Professor Snape as his punishment for flying his Dad's car for school and crashing into the Whomping Willow.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Meanwhile, Harry sits with the pompous Professor at a desk in Lockhart's classroom, working by candlelight. The boy addresses envelopes as his form of punishment, though he wishes he was cleaning beakers with Snape. "Harry, Harry, Harry… Can you possibly imagine a better way to serve detention than by helping me answer my fan mail?" Lockhart asks cheerily, signing his stack of glossy photos bearing his image with gold ink.
"Not really." Harry replies, forcing a smile in return.
"Fame's a fickle friend, Harry. Celebrity is as celebrity does. Remember that." He says, ignoring the boy, and Harry nods, glancing gloomily at the towering stack of envelopes that are still to be done. He dips his quill in the inkpot, beginning to write but stopping, hearing a chilly voice that fills the room.
"Come… Come to me…." A voice hisses from somewhere.
"What?" Harry asks, looking up at Lockhart.
"I was saying, six solid months at the top of the bestseller list! Broke all records!" Lockhart repeats with a goofy smile.
"No… not you, that… voice." He replies, looking around worried.
"Voice?" The Professor asks, looking at the boy confused.
"That… voice. Didn't you hear it?" The boy questions.
"What are you talking about, Harry? I think we're getting a bit tired. Great Scott - and no wonder -." Lockhart says, grabbing the clock, seeing how late it is. "- Look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours! Dinner's nearly done! If you hurry, you might make pudding. Spooky how the time flies when one's having fun!" He grins, letting Harry leave.
"Spooky," Harry replies with a fake smile.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Elsewhere, Jayla stands in a room on the seventh floor of the castle, surrounded by black and red candles, and she lights one, placing it down on the side with the others, bowing her head. "Please grant my Aunt Davina and those lost that night Eternal rest unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed and those who fallen victim to the war, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen." Jayla whispers before lifting her head and standing. "I wish we had more time together to get to know each other. Thank you for your sacrifice. We all miss you. Dad's still trying to free him. I promise." She moves to the door that appears, and Jayla looks back into the room. "I promise, Aunt Davina. We love you."
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Jayla steps out into the corridor, wiping away tears, when a voice hisses from somewhere. "Come… Come to me…."
"What?" Jayla swirls around but sees nothing. "Who's there?" She calls, but there's no answer, and she runs off, following the voice through the castle as it grows louder the further she goes down.
"Blood…" The voice hisses as she makes it to the first floor. "I smell blood… Let me rip you… let me kill you…." Jayla quickens her pace, growing scared of what might happen.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Through the first-floor corridor, Harry quickly walks, wanting to get to the Great Hall for something to eat. "Blood… I smell blood…." A hissing voice comes from nowhere, making him stop cold and look around the corridor for the noise source, but he finds nothing. "Let me rip you… let me kill you…." Potter steps closer to the wall, playing his fingers along the stone, beginning to stroll. "Kill… kill… kill…" Harry goes quicker, following the voice, moving faster and faster, rounding the corner, and coming face to face with Ron and Hermione.
"Harry!" Hermione yelps in surprise to see him, seeing him freaked out.
"Did you hear it?" Harry asks them.
"Hear what?" Ron asks him, confused.
"That voice," He answers, and they look concerned for their friend.
"Voice? What voice?" Hermione asks him.
"I heard it first in Lockhart's office. And then again just -." Harry says but stops as the voice returns.
"It's time…." The voice hisses.
"It's moving. I think it's going to kill." Harry announces and runs with the others following him.
"Kill?" Ron gapes in fear, running down the corridor.
"Harry, wait! Not so fast!" Hermione yells after him, and they bump into Jayla.
"Jayla! Where have you been?" He yelps, looking at her in surprise.
"It's personal. We have to move now!" Jayla replies, running with Harry and leading the others further along the corridor.
"Wait, what's going on?" Hermione asks.
"It's moving in for the kill!" She replies, and they come to another corridor further within the castle, but it's much darker, and the young Heiress looks at her expensive black school shoes to see water flooding the floor. The Golden Quartet stop, looking around, and Jayla pulls Harry to the right, with Hermione and Ron following them when they come to a halt. Jayla follows his stare to a line of tiny spiders scurrying into a hole in the window's lower-left corner.
"Strange. I've never seen spiders act like that." Harry comments.
"I don't like spiders…" Ron whimpers, looking away and seeing the water on the floor. "What's that?" In the reflection of the water, they see red letters - hopefully in paint - written on the wall, and they look up to read it.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened… Enemies of the Heir… beware." Hermione reads, "It's written in blood." Jayla cringes as her thought is verified.
"Oh, no…" Harry gasps, and she follows his eyes, seeing Mrs Norris hanging by a torch underneath the message written in blood, not moving a muscle. "It's Filch's cat. It's Mrs Norris." He steps toward her, but before he touches her, Jayla stops him as the students begin walking out from the Great Hall, converging on the Golden Quartet from either side, meaning dinner has finished.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware!" Draco says, walking to the front of the group. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!" He spits over in Hermione's direction, and she holds onto Jayla's wrist to stop her from punching him again.
"What's going on 'ere? Go on, make way, make way." Filch yells, passing through the students to the front and zeroes in on Harry. "Potter - what are you…" His eyes shift, finally noticing his beloved cat. "Mrs Norris? You've… murdered my cat." His lip quivers, and he grows angry.
"No. No." Harry protests, shaking his head.
"I'll kill you… I'll kill ya!" He shouts with rage and sadness for his cat and tries to go for the boy.
"Argus!" Dumbledore booms, coming around the corner with the other Professors behind him. "Argus, I…" He looks at the wall, and Jayla stares at him, unable to read his expression. "Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately." The students begin to walk away, and the four suspects try to slip away. "Everyone except… you four." He gestures to the Golden Quartet, making them stop, and Jayla sighs in defeat at already getting into trouble, and the other students scurry away. Lockhart strolls over, inspecting Mrs Norris' body. "She's not dead, Argus. She has been Petrified."
"Ah, thought so. So unlucky I wasn't there. I know exactly the counter curse that could have spared her." Lockhart lies, gaining the attention of the staff and students.
"What a loud of rubbish." Jayla scoffs under her breath, shaking her head, but Hermione hears her and nudges her elbow in the Heiress' rib, making her wince in pain from the assault to her side.
"But how she has been Petrified, I cannot say…." Dumbledore informs the caretaker, and from his tone and look at the DADA Professor, Jayla can tell he doesn't believe Lockhart either.
"Ask him. It's him who's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall." Filch accuses Harry again.
"It's not true, sir, I swear. I never touched Mrs Norris." Harry argues, shaking his head, trying to get someone to believe him.
"Rubbish!" He yells in protest, devastated about his beloved cat.
"If I might, Headmaster? Perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." Snape seems to rescue them, and the friends look at one another, sharing looks of surprise. "However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter or Miss Darkmore at dinner."
"I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus. You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail." Lockhart jumps to his rescue, and Snape glances at him with a sour face.
"I was in the Common Room," Jayla answers, seeing the others staring at her. "I wasn't feeling hungry." She lies.
"That's why Ron and I went looking for them, Professor. We'd found Harry when he said…." Hermione says, tripping up a little.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" Snape asks her, staring into her soul.
"When I said I wasn't hungry. We were heading back to the Common Room when we bumped into Jayla." Harry adds, looking at the young Darkmore Heiress, and they all stare at her.
"I came looking for Hermione. I needed help with a personal problem." Jayla lies again. "That's when we found poor Mrs Norris." The friends share a look, and Snape looks at them and then turns to Dumbledore.
"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus." Dumbledore announces, looking at the four second-year students.
"My cay has been Petrified. I wanna see some punishment!" Filch snaps at the Headmaster.
"We will be able to cure her, Argus," He assures the caretaker. "As I understand it, Madame Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrakes." Behind him, the plump woman nods to Filch, assuring the man. "A potion will be made when matured, which will revive Mrs Norris. And in the meantime… I strongly recommend caution… to all." He around the corridor full of staff and the four students.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
The Golden Quartet makes it out with just a warning and walks to the Grand Staircase and the Gryffindor Tower, walking up the steps when Hermione stops halfway, looking down at the boys and Jayla. "It's a bit strange, isn't it?" Hermione comments out of the blue.
"Strange?" Harry asks, not getting it.
"You hear this voice, a voice only you can hear, and then Mrs Norris turns up Petrified. It's just… strange." She comments, and Jayla bites her tongue on hearing the voice, too, because she's still unsure why Harry can understand the same voice as her.
"Do you think I should have told them? Dumbledore and the others, I mean?" Harry asks them, and she shakes her head.
"Are you mad?" Ron snaps at him in worry.
"No, Harry. Even in the Wizarding World, hearing voices isn't a good sigh, though it it's animal voices, then maybe." Jayla jokes, trying to lighten the depressing mood, making Hermione huff, storming off, and the young Heiress chases after her.
"She's right, you know." The man in the painting remarks, and the boys look at him before walking after the girls to the Gryffindor Tower.
"Hermione!" She shouts after her and stops her. "I need to talk to you."
"What is it?" Hermione asks her, and the boys walk towards them.
"Move on." The young Heiress tells them. "We'll see you in the Common Room."
"All right." Ron mutters, and the boys continue walking, leaving the girls alone.
"I wasn't in the Common Room." Jayla reveals once they're alone, seeing the shock on her friend's face.
"What?!" Hermione shouts.
"Shush!" She snaps.
"You lied to the teachers!" The bushy brunette hisses, growing scared.
"I was somewhere else." The young Heiress tells her. "It's my aunt's death's anniversary. I was lighting a candle for her."
"I see. Why didn't you just tell the teachers?" Hermione asks her, frowning.
"My Aunt Davina died the same night as Harry's parents. Some people didn't like her because of her husband. They blamed him for things he didn't do." Jayla explains. "Please, you can't tell the boys. Please."
"Of course. You know I wouldn't." She promises her. "I'm sorry about your aunt."
"Yeah. I never really met her. I was only 1 when she was killed. My Dad always talks highly of his younger sister. She was in the same year as Harry's parents. They were friends, apparently." The black and blond-haired girl replies with a soft smile.
"Come on. Let's go join the boys in the Common Room." Hermione tells her, wiping an escaped tear off her friend's cheek.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Jayla strolls past Harry and Ron into the Common Room with Hermione and goes to her armchair, seeing a first-year sitting in her seat. "Move," Jayla orders them, and he looks at her, quickly getting up, scared of her, and the others look at her, wondering what's wrong.
"What's her problem?" Ron mutters, looking at her and then at Harry, who shrugs, just as clueless.
"She's just upset." Hermione tells them.
"About what?" Harry frowns, growing worried for her.
"I can't tell you." She replies and joins Jayla on the armchair, grabbing a book off the side. "What are we reading?"
"The Hobbit." Jayla answers, and Hermione nods, opening the book.
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort…." The bushy-haired girl reads the book aloud, gaining quite an audience from the other students, who crowd around, listening.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Hermione and Jayla finally go to their dorm room to see Ginny asleep while Abigail Stone and Parvati get ready for bed. Jayla sits at her desk and writes a letter to her family for tomorrow before getting ready for bed, and Hermione carefully watches her as she changes for bed. Hermione worries for her friend because if someone asks questions about where Jayla really is, she might have to tell them, but only if her best friend really needs it. Jayla finishes her letter and changes into her pyjamas before looking at Ginny, growing worried for her as the young girl seems to become more closed off. The young Heiress spots something like a black leather diary poking out from under her pillow and decides to talk to the girl tomorrow before getting into bed and falling into slumber.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Lessons begin again as the weekend ends, with Defence Against the Dark Arts being the first class with Professor Lockhart. Everyone can't stop talking the last few days about what happened on Halloween, some thinking it is the real deal, and some thinking it might be a trick by some idiot. Jayla hopes it's a trick, but deep down, she knows it's the real deal as she packs her things away as Potions class ends, her mind on Ginny, who keeps avoiding everyone, and it's making her worried. "Miss Darkmore!" Snape shouts, startling the girl.
"Yes, sir?" Jayla asks, everyone, watching as they leave the classroom, escaping the miserable Professor.
"A word." He says, and she looks back at her friends.
"Go on without me. I'll see you in a minute." She assures them, and they leave the two alone. "What is it, sir?"
"I've written to your parents about what I am about to suggest now, and they have agreed." The Potions Master informs her.
"And that is, sir?" The Darkmore Heir questions.
"We believe you are much better suited to extra lessons. You exceeded expectations last year and so far this year." Snape explains, and she smiles.
"Thank you, sir. When would I have these extra lessons?" Jayla asks, excited about the idea.
"During your Tuesday Study Period and Saturday morning at 11 o'clock sharp." He informs her.
"I look forward to it, sir." She replies. "May I go now?" He nods, and she leaves, seeing her friends waiting for her in the corridor.
"What was that about?" Harry asks her.
"Just talking about my excellent grades. He's giving me extra lessons." The black and blond-haired girl informs them, smiling.
"What, seriously?" Ron exclaims. "And you said yes?"
"Of course she did." Hermione smiles. "That's great."
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
After a hurried lunch, Harry goes upstairs to meet Ron in the Library and finds his best friend at the back, measuring his History of Magic homework. Professor Binns asked for a three-foot-long composition on "The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards". "I don't believe it. I'm still eight inches short." Ron complains furiously, letting go of his parchment, which springs back into a roll. "And Hermione's done four feet seven inches and Jayla done four feet five inches, and their writings tiny."
"Where are they?" Harry asks, grabbing the tape measuring and unrolling his homework.
"Looking for another book. I think they're trying to read the whole Library before Christmas." He remarks, rolling his eyes, and Hermione emerges between the bookshelves, looking irritable and ready to talk to them.
"All the copes of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out." Hermione groans, sitting next to Harry and Ron, when Jayla steps out between another set of bookshelves, holding another Muggle book.
"Apparently, there's a two-week waiting list." Jayla informs them.
"I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books." She complains.
"Why do you want it?" Harry asks her.
"The same reason everyone else does," Jayla tells him, "to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."
"What's that?" He asks quickly.
"That's just it. I can't remember." Hermione answers and looks at Jayla, biting her lip. "And I can't find the story anywhere else -."
"What about you-." The raven-haired boy asks, but Ron interrupts him.
"Hermione, let me read your composition," Ron pleads desperately, checking his watch.
"No, I won't." Hermione answers, suddenly severe.
"No." Jayla answers. "You've had ten days to finish it."
"I only need another two inches, come on -." Ron begs, but before he can say anything more, the bell rings, and Hermione and Ron lead the way to History of Magic class, bickering.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
History of Magic is the dullest subject on their timetable. Professor Binns, who teaches it, and their only ghost teacher, and the most exciting thing that ever happens in his classes is him entering the room through the blackboard. Ancient and shrivelled, many people say he hasn't noticed he's dead. He simply got up to teach one day and left his body behind in an armchair in front of the staff room fire, and his routine has not varied in the slightest since.
Today is as boring as ever. Professor Binns opens his notes and begins to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class is in a deep stupor, occasionally coming to long enough to copy down a name or date, then fall asleep again. He speaks for half an hour when something happens that has never happened before. Hermione put up her hand, making Binns glance up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looking amazed. "Miss - er -?"
"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets." Hermione asks in a clear voice. Dean Thomas, sitting with his mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window, jerks out of his trance; Lavender Brown's head comes up off her arms, and Neville Longbottom's elbow slips off his desk. Professor Binns blinks.
"My subject is History of Magic," He replies dryly in a wheezy voice. "I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He clears his throat with a slight noise like chalk slips and continues, "In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian Sorcerers -." He stutters to a halt as Hermione waves her hand in the air again. "Miss Grant?"
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis of fact?" She questions, and Professor Binns looks at her with such amazement; Harry is sure no student has ever interrupted him before, alive or dead.
"Well," Binns says slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose." He peers at the bushy-haired brunette as though he has never seen a student properly before. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensation, even ludicrous tale -." But the whole class is now hanging onto his every word. He looks dimly at them all, every face turning to his. Harry can tell he is completely thrown by such an unusual show of interest. "Oh, very well." He says slowly. "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: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, 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 Witches and Wizards suffered much persecution." He pauses, gazing blearily around the room, and continues.
"For a few years, the Founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of Magic and bringing them to the caste 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 All-Magic 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 pauses again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise. "Reliable historical sources tell us this much. 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 none 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 who were unworthy to study Magic." Once Binns finishes telling the story, a deadly silence fills the usually sleepy classroom. There is unease in the air as everyone watches him, hoping for more. Professor Binns looks faintly annoyed. "The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course. Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber many times by the most learned Witches and Wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."
"Sir - what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?" Jayla asks, surprising everyone as she raises her hand.
"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of Slytherin alone can control." He replies in his fry, ready voice, and the class exchanges nervous looks. "I tell you, the thing does not exist," He shuffles his notes. "There is no Chamber and no monster."
"But, sir," Seamus says, "if the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true Heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?"
"Nonsense, O'Flaherty," Binns says in an aggravated tone. "If a long succession of Hogwarts Headmasters and Headmistresses haven't found the thing -."
"But, Professor," Parvati pipes up, "you'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it -."
"Just because a Wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he can't, Miss Pennyfeather." He snaps. "I repeat if the lies of Dumbledore -."
"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't -." Dean reasons, but Professor Binns has had enough.
"That will do," Binns says sharply. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable fact!" And within five minutes, the class sinks back into its usual boredom.
⒴⒠⒜⒭ ⑵
Classes finish for the day, and the Golden Quartet head to the Gryffindor Tower to drop off their bag before going to the Great Hall. "D'you think it's true?" Ron wonders, looking at the others. "D'you think there really is a Chamber of Secrets?"
"Yes. Couldn't you tell?" Hermione replies. "All the teachers are worried." Jayla nods in agreement as their teachers have seemed on edge the whole day, nervous and twitchy.
"Well, if there really is a Chamber of Secrets, a-and it really has been opened, then that means -." Harry stutters, looking at his friends.
"The Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts. The question is, who is it?" Jayla wonders when Draco and his goons walk past them.
"Let's think. Who do we know who thinks all Muggle-borns are scum?" Ron remarks, giving a side glance as the three goons walk past them.
"If you're talking about Malfoy -." Hermione snaps, glaring after them.
"Of course. You hear him, "You'll be next, Mudbloods"." He sneers back in defence.
"I heard him. But Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" She wonders, and Jayla shakes her head because that would mean so was she.
"Well, maybe Ron's right, Hermione, Jayla. I mean, look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin for centuries." Harry argues, forgetting some people.
"Not all of them. My Mum was in Ravenclaw, and I am a Gryffindor. Thank you very much." Jayla argues, and he gives her a look.
"Crabbe and Goyle must know. Maybe we could trick them into telling." Ron comes up with an idea.
"Even they aren't that thick. But there might be another way." She comments, sharing a look with Hermione, and she seems to get her friend's idea.
"Mind you. It would be difficult. Not to mention, we would be breaking about fifty school rules." Hermione agrees, smiling a little.
"And it'll be dangerous. Very dangerous." The young Heiress adds that trying to scare the boys works. "We're gonna need a teacher's signature. And I've got just the one to do it."