A chapter that I was very eager to publish, given its length and the amount of time I spent on it. It shows us how the story is lived through the eyes of other students who are not as involved in the events of the Chamber of Secrets.
HANNAH I
Hannah woke up panting. She looked all around her, only to find out that she was in the girl's dormitory of the Hufflepuff's basement. She let herself fall back into her bed, her head hitting softly the pillow. She was sweating. She just made a horrible nightmare. Her mother was being chased by a giant creature, long like a giant snake, but with the head of a dragon. Hannah tried to chase the memory of that dream from her mind. Why did she always remember her nightmares better than her beautiful dreams?
"Hannah?" Right behind her, Susan just called her name. "Are you alright?"
"Yes. Only a nightmare. Sorry, Susan. Did I wake you up?"
"No. I wasn't sleeping. You're not the only one who had nightmares."
Hannah laid still in her bed for a moment, but she couldn't stay that way. "I'm going down to the common room," she whispered.
"I follow you," Susan said in the same whispering voice.
Both girls put on a nightdress, and they left their dormitory, being careful not to wake up Megan and the other girls. Susan and Hannah both sat in comfortable armchairs. Hannah looked at the circular windows that normally would let their common room bathe into the sunlight. However, they were too soon in the day, and the only light they had was some demoralizing grey. This failed to bring any comfort to Hannah.
"So, what was your dream about?" Susan asked her.
Hannah told her. Her mother was being chased by a gigantic monster spitting fire, while hissing in a horrible way. Hannah still had the sound in her ears. The nightmare stopped at the moment the fangs of the beasts closed on her mother.
"What was yours about?" Hannah asked her friend.
Susan's dream was no better. She saw several members of her family being slaughtered one after one.
"It's not the first time I do that kind of dreams," she explained to Hannah. "Most of the time, it happens when I don't feel well or when I'm pretty sad."
The door to the boy's dormitory opened at this moment, and Justin came out. He froze when he saw Hannah and Susan.
"You can't sleep either, Justin?" Hannah asked him.
"No. Not after what happened yesterday," he replied.
Hannah felt sorry for him. It was true that, out of all the people in the Great Hall, Justin was the one who ought to be the most traumatized. It was him who the snake almost planted his fangs into. The girls invited him to sit on the couch in front of them. Justin sat down abruptly, breathing heavily.
"Hey, Justin," Susan began, "you're fine. You're alive. You weren't hurt yesterday."
"Thank you, Susan. But with all respect, it's not on you that Potter released a snake."
For a time, no one said a word. Then Susan broke the silence. "Are you sure that he sent the snake after you?"
Justin raised his head to look at her so quickly that Hannah was almost afraid he could have snapped his neck. "Are you kidding? You saw what he did. He told the snake to attack me."
"Well, I'm not sure, Justin. The thing is, I think the snake went after you after he landed near you. And then... after Harry said something... the snake was lying on the floor, doing nothing."
"But are you blind, Susan? The snake attacked me!"
"I know, Justin. I was afraid me too. I wasn't far from you when it happened, remember. But the thing is... The snake did stop to move after Harry talked to him."
"He talked in Parseltongue. And I told him earlier this year that my parents were Muggles. It can't be a coincidence."
Hannah was listening at the exchange. What was Susan doing? "I don't believe he was trying to hurt you, Justin. I'm not talking about the serpent. I'm talking about Harry. I don't see him doing such a thing."
"Well, he certainly gave that impression yesterday."
"Wait, Susan," Hannah said. There was something she failed to understand. "What do you mean when you say that Harry didn't try to hurt Justin?"
"I mean that..." Susan shook her head before she continued. "I almost couldn't sleep this night, so I replayed what happened yesterday in my head, again and again. And I remember clearly that the snake was going after Justin. Then Harry spoke in Parseltongue, and the snake stopped. It just became... limp. It didn't move after that."
"You're imagining things, Susan. Potter sent the snake after me," Justin said. "Wayne saw it, and Ernie too. We all saw it. You saw it too."
Susan didn't say anything else. They all remained there, sitting in the comfortable armchairs and couches that they couldn't enjoy because of the situation they found themselves in. This uncomfortable silence was weighing down on Hannah, and she felt like she should go back to the dormitory, try to get a few minutes of sleep before they had to take their breakfast. But Justin stood up before she did.
"I'm going back to sleep."
He left them and walked through the circular door leading to the many tunnels, one of which would lead him to the boy's dormitory. Hannah and Megan had thought more than once about slipping inside the boy's dormitory to see how it looked like. They didn't have the chance to execute their plan yet, however.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have talked about what happened yesterday," Susan said. Hannah thought that her friend felt guilty.
"Susan, you're serious when you say that the snake stopped to move right when Harry talked in Parseltongue? I mean, you're sure?"
"Yes. That's like I said. The snake landed near Justin, he began to approach him, then Harry made some noises, and the serpent just stopped to move. It was lying on the floor an instant later."
That wasn't what Hannah remembered. Well, the truth was, she didn't remember clearly what happened. She also didn't have the best view. Someone had blocked her view on the snake when Harry spoke in Parseltongue.
Hannah was the same age as Harry Potter. She didn't know him personally. She wouldn't call him a friend. She first heard of him when she was very young. Like every girl and boy of her age, Hannah was told in her early childhood of the miracle that happened in 1981, when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was defeated. The name of Harry Potter was as famous for her as were the names of Albus Dumbledore or Helga Hufflepuff. Maybe it was even more famous. So when she climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express for the first time and heard two students talking about the fact that Harry Potter was in the train, coming to Hogwarts just like she was, Hannah was excited. She hadn't realized that Harry Potter was eleven-years-old just like her. The first thing she did was the thing she liked the most : talk about it. She told all the other students in her compartment, all first-years just like her, about what she just heard. A non-significant part of the journey to Hogwarts was spent discussing about the fact that Harry Potter was coming to study at Hogwarts with them.
When the train arrived at Hogwarts, Hannah searched the small crowd who went to Hogwarts in small boats, looking for the Boy Who Lived. If she could tell the other students around her that she spotted Harry Potter... The problem was that she didn't know how Harry Potter looked like, and she was too excited by her arrival at Hogwarts to say nothing and just listen to others, trying to hear his name and locating him that way. She didn't know who he was before the Sorting Ceremony.
Hannah, because of her family name, had been the first to be called during the Sorting. The Hat took some time. He hesitated, considered to send her either to Gryffindor, either to Hufflepuff. Hannah was hoping to be sent to one of these two houses. Her mother had been a Hufflepuff, but her father was a Gryffindor. In the end, the Hat chose her mother's house. She then walked excitedly to the right table, being welcomed by the Fat Friar. Susan followed her right after.
Names had gone by, and when a new student was sent either to Ravenclaw, Gryffindor or Slytherin, she told the people around her that Harry Potter was in the small crowd in front if the Sorting Hat. This excited almost everyone, even Susan who was far more serious than Hannah. The Hat had sorted students in alphabetical order, reaching the letter P. First, Pansy Parkinson went to Slytherin, then Padma Patil went to Ravenclaw before her twin sister, Parvati, was selected for Gryffindor. Hannah had a very good memory for names. She remembered everyone in the order when they were sorted, and in which house each was sorted. Sally-Anne Perks, her friend, went to Hufflepuff. Then the name came out.
"Harry Potter."
The whole Great Hall had gotten silent. Hannah had been one of the first to break it as a small boy with black hair and glasses approached the Sorting Hat.
"Look, everyone. That's him," she whispered to all those who wanted to hear, even from the neighboring tables. Susan didn't really seem to pay attention to her. She was watching as Harry received the Hat on the head. Hannah felt like it took an eternity for the Hat to take a decision. Like everyone in the Great Hall, Hannah was hoping for Harry Potter to be sent into her own house. She was disappointed when the Hat shouted Gryffindor.
Hungry for gossips and topics to discuss, in class and in between courses, Hannah had been watching Harry. The Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors shared the same Charms class during her first year, and she also sometimes took opportunities to watch him from afar when she spotted him in the Great Hall, the library, or even the corridors. After a time, the interest waned off. Once her excitement of seeing Harry Potter was satisfied, Hannah turned to other topics worth gossiping. But in fact, the interest rekindled quite quickly. So many gossiping topics involved Harry that it was almost impossible to ignore him. First, there was that accident with the troll at Halloween. Then they discovered that he was Gryffindor's Seeker, when first-years were not supposed to play Quidditch. Hannah roared with the three quarters of the school when he caught the Snitch against Slytherin. She wasn't as happy when he defeated her own house in less than five minutes though.
And then there were the rumours about him and Hermione Granger. It started not long after the accident with the troll. Harry began to be seen with Hermione a lot of time, and people began to wonder, Hannah the first, whether Hermione was his girlfriend. She watched them more than once from afar, even spying them once or twice when they were in the library, hoping to see anything that would confirm the rumour and that she could bring back to her friends. However, after a few months, it became obvious that the two were only friends, although the rumours concerning the two would resurface from time to time, even this year.
But mostly, Hannah had come to see Harry as a boy just like all the others. He was kind, always very polite, not an ounce of pettiness. He wasn't part of Hannah's close friends. They were in different houses, and as far as she could tell, shared little interest in common. More often than not, she would see him either practicing for Quidditch or spending time with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione, the two with who he went under the third floor at the end of last year. The three of them were inseparable. Harry was kind to her, and they respected each other, but it stopped there. Still, they were on more than enough good terms that Hannah would never have expected something like what happened yesterday with the snake. She was terrorized like everyone else by what she witnessed during the Duelling Club. She heard Harry speaking Parseltongue, and the snake advancing on Justin. Harry Potter had sent the snake on Justin. And yet…
And yet, there was what Susan said. Could there be things that Hannah didn't see, but that Susan saw? She thought about Harry. There had been one instance where they spoke that she remembered very clearly. It was last year. Sally-Anne had burst into tears in the middle of the Charms class. Hannah didn't know back then. No one knew, but her father just died. He was working for the Ministry of Magic, and his job often involved to capture dangerous magical creatures. He had been burned alive by a Hungarian Horntail, somewhere in Eastern Europe. Sally had learned it by a letter from her mother just before she came to the Charms class. They had to take her to the infirmary after she burst uncontrollably into tears. Later that day, Sally was nowhere to be found. Hannah had gone to find her, and she found her with Harry, in the park. Sally had never spoken to Harry. She was so shy that she barely spoke at all. Hannah had heard Harry sharing his own experience. His father had died when he was a baby, trying to protect him. He was the only one who could comfort Sally in some way on that day. Hannah had thanked him for talking to Sally later.
Hannah tried to reconcile this image that she had of Harry with what she witnessed in the Great Hall. It didn't work. The kind boy, always respectful, the one who got rid of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, trying to harm Justin? How could that be possible? Susan had to be right.
"You must be right," Hannah finally voiced, referring to what Susan just told her. Her mind was in turmoil. There were so many things that had gone though it within the last few seconds that it seemed like an eternity since Susan spoke.
"If only Justin believed me as well," Susan said. "He's scared for nothing."
"Don't be too harsh on him. We both saw this serpent. It was horrible. I understand why he's scared to death. And hearing someone speak Parseltongue..."
"Yeah, I guess," Susan replied.
They remained there for quite some time, discussing about many things without interest. Hannah was usually very good at turning a boring topic into something pleasant to talk about, but today she couldn't. The fact it was with Susan that she talked didn't make things easier. Susan was definitely the most serious girl of Hufflepuff in their year. She wasn't the best for light talking.
Other people eventually started pouring into the common room. Hannah and Susan went to change for the day. They then left for the Great Hall. Hannah was surprised that Megan and Sally-Anne didn't wait for them. They usually went to the Great Hall all together. However, they spotted their two friends the moment they arrived in front of the Great Hall. They were with Justin, Ernie and Wayne. And they stayed against the walls outside the Great Hall while Ernie seemed to be gazing inside the large room.
"Ernie, what are you doing?" Susan asked him.
"I'm just checking to make sure that Potter is not here," he replied, not looking at her. "Okay. He's not here. Justin, you stay with us. He will not dare to attack you if we're there."
"It didn't stop him yesterday," Justin pointed out.
"It's going to he fine. And we all need to eat."
Hannah looked at them all entering the Great Hall. She followed them instinctively and sat next to them at the table of their house. Susan joined them not long after, and they began to take their breakfast together. The weather had not improved. Despite the time going on, the sky was just as grey as before, and the roof indicated that a blizzard had settled outside the school.
"Eat something, Justin," Megan told him. "You're not going to starve yourself."
Justin nodded and began to chew some toasts. Hannah prepared herself some with strawberry jam on. Susan took porridge and some fruits.
"Hey, everyone," Ernie told them. "We stay away from the Gryffindors in Herbology today, okay? We stick with Justin, and we keep him as far away from Potter as possible."
"Oh, Ernie," Susan said. "That's ridiculous!"
"What, you've already forgotten what happened yesterday?"
"I haven't forgotten. And if my memory is correct, Justin wasn't harmed."
"It was a close thing."
"Shut up you two, okay?" Justin said. He was trembling. Hannah filled his glass with pumpkin juice, hoping it would cheer him up a little.
"Here, Justin. Drink something. You'll feel better after that," she told him.
"Thank you, Hannah," he said.
"A moment of your attention, everybody." Professor Sprout had spoken to the whole Great Hall. "I must announce that the Herbology classes for today are cancelled. The Mandrakes are at a critical stage of their growth, and I must put socks and scarves on them. This operation is too delicate for you students to do it. So rejoice, some of you have either a free morning or a free afternoon."
Hannah giggled. These were good news indeed. It was rare that classes were cancelled. "You heard it, Justin? We have the whole morning free."
"Yeah." He seemed quite happy. "That means I will not cross Potter's path today."
Hannah hoped he would feel better soon. He was still under shock for yesterday's snake. It would pass, certainly.
"I'm not really hungry, you know," Justin then told them out of nowhere. "I'm going back to the common room." He took a pile of toasts with him before he left.
"I'll come with you," Ernie said.
"Me too," Susan added.
Later, they all went to the library. They found a quiet spot in the back of it, where people seldom came, and sat there. Ernie, Justin and Susan had not joined them since they left the Great Hall sooner for the their common room. Hannah had brought her homework. She had a good habit of working while gossiping, which had proved very effective last year to get excellent results at her exams. However, it soon became apparent that the others didn't want to work. Truth be told, she didn't want either. The conversation quickly turned into whispers about yesterday's events.
"You've seen how Justin was shaking during breakfast?" Megan said. "He's terrified."
"I would be in his place," Wayne conceded. He made a grimace. "Just to think about this snake yesterday... What was Malfoy thinking when he made it appear?"
"Probably that it would be a good joke," another boy answered. "I suppose that even he wasn't aware that Potter was a Parselmouth."
Hannah would usually have jumped on the opportunity to discuss extraordinary events at Hogwarts, but she didn't feel like it today. She was still too distraught with what happened yesterday to talk about it too openly.
"Do you realize that he was a Parselmouth all this time, and we never saw it? Do you think his friends knew about it?" Megan asked.
"Not sure. I mean, everyone looked surprised when he did it," Wayne replied.
"Maybe they know something," another girl suggested. "If we asked them, perhaps they would tell us..."
"Will you speak lower?" Ernie had joined them. He emerged from behind a shelf and sat with them. "I could almost hear you from the other side of the library," he whispered. "What if Potter or one of his friends from Gryffindor came in and heard everything you say?"
They all shut up. Ernie made them signs to approach near him. They did so, Hannah included. They were so close that their heads almost touched.
"Is Justin feeling better?" Hannah asked Ernie, concerned about their friend.
"Not really. Susan is not making things much better, but I left her with him. I think it's better if someone keeps him company, even in our common room," he explained.
"Do you think Justin is in danger?" Sally-Anne asked. She hadn't spoken so far in the day.
"Of course, he is. You were there yesterday. You saw that serpent coming on him."
"Malfoy should never have made it appear," Hannah said.
"No, he shouldn't have. But I don't think he's the one to blame this time. It's all on Potter."
"I can't believe he's a Parselmouth," Wayne said. "The Boy Who Lived. Who could have believed that?"
"Well, we only need to believe what we see and hear, and we all saw Potter sending the snake on Justin."
"He did?"
The question came out of Hannah's mouth on its own. Everyone looked at her quizzically. "Of course, he did. You were there Hannah. You saw it," Megan said.
"I... I'm not sure anymore. I think someone was obstructing my view. I'm not sure how the snake reacted when Harry talked to it."
"He went after Justin. Our friend can consider himself lucky to be still alive. For once, Professor Snape did something good when he destroyed that snake," Ernie said.
"It's just... Susan told me that the snake was unmoving at the end. And I think she is right. The snake wasn't moving when Professor Snape made it disappear, didn't it?"
"The snake almost bit Justin, Hannah. Come on. It doesn't matter that it wasn't moving in the end. It was moving first, and it's Potter who sent it after Justin. He's the only one who could talk to the serpent in this room. He was targeting Justin because his parents are Muggles. Just like he targeted Colin Creevey before."
"So... Mrs Norris... Creevey... You believe it is Harry who Petrified them?"
"Look at the facts, Hannah!" Ernie had raised the voice a little, but he returned to a whisper that was barely audible right away. "He was found next to Colin's body. And he wasn't at the feast at Halloween. He was busy Petrifying Filch's cat. I guess Justin is his next target now."
"Justin? But why?"
It seemed so unbelievable. She looked at Sally-Anne. Did she think that the boy who comforted her after her father's death could do such things? But Sally remained silent. She didn't say a word and kept looking at the floor.
"The heir of Slytherin is targeting Muggle-born people. We all know that. So anyway, I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as his next victim, it's best to keep a low profile for a while. Justin already didn't want to leave our common room today. He's too afraid. He let it slip to Potter that he was Muggle-born. Justin actually told him he was supposed to go to Eaton. That's not the kind of thing you bandy about with Slytherin's heir on the loose. Justin spent far too much time around Potter. He said too much. And now he's paying the price."
"You definitely think it is Harry, then, Ernie?" She thought about the message on the wall on the second floor. She was there when they found it with Mrs Norris petrified. Could it really be Harry who wrote it?
"Hannah." Ernie looked straight at her. "He's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue."
"Ernie is right," Wayne said. "Slytherin could talk with snakes. He must be Harry Potter's ancestor. That's why he can speak Parseltongue."
"That would explain why Filch found him near Colin Creevey when he was Petrified," Megan added convincingly.
"Remember what was written on the wall. Enemies of the Heir, Beware. Potter had some sort of run-in with Filch because he sullied the floors with mud. I heard the ghosts talking about it. And only a few days later, Filch's cat is attacked. Creevey was annoying Potter at the Quidditch match, taking pictures of him while he was lying in the mud. And again, only a few days later, Creevey is attacked, and we find Potter right next to him."
"He always seems so nice, though," Hannah said. She was no longer certain though. Everything seemed to hold. It was strange indeed that Harry wasn't there at the Halloween feast, and that Colin Creevey's body was found next to him. There was just one thing that didn't hold. "And, well, he's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear. He can't be all that bad, can he?"
She thought again about Sally, but the girl still refused to establish eye contact with anyone.
"No one knows how he survived the attack by You-Know-Who," Ernie whispered even lower than ever. Hannah had to approach her ears even further. "I mean to say, he was only a baby when it happened. He should have been blasted into smithereens. Only a really powerful dark wizard could have survived a curse like that. That's probably why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place. He didn't want another Dark Lord competing with him."
Hannah had never looked at things this way. Whenever she heard the story of Harry Potter, people depicted him as a savior, the only one who ever survived He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the one who defeated him and saved the world. Her parents told her the story so many times before she went to bed when she was only a kid. She passed her right hand through one of her pigtails. Was this all a lie? Was the Boy Who Lived really another powerful dark wizard who was just now awakening?
"I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding." Ernie added.
Hannah was just beginning to ask herself the same question when someone cleared his throat behind Ernie. This person emerged from the shelves where he must have been hiding.
"Hello. I'm looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley."
Hannah didn't dare to move a single muscle. Harry Potter was standing right in front of them, and he didn't look happy at all. In fact, he looked furious. And he just asked them where Justin was. The way they were positioned, Hannah was facing him, but Ernie had his back turned on him. Hannah looked at him, hoping that he would tell her what they should do, but he looked terrified.
Still, Ernie stood up and looked at Harry. "What do you want with him?" he asked Harry, his voice trembling.
"I wanted to tell him what really happened with that snake at the Duelling Club," Harry replied.
"We were all there. We saw what happened." Ernie's voice was shouting words more quickly than ever.
"Then you noticed that, after I spoke to it, the snake backed off."
"All I saw was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake towards Justin."
"I didn't chase at him! It didn't even touch him!"
"It was a very near miss."
Hannah's mind was numb. She couldn't make sense of what happened. Harry was telling exactly what Susan said happened, but the others served her with Ernie's version. What really happened yesterday?
"And in case you're getting ideas," Ernie added, his voice quivering like never, "I might tell you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks. And my blood is as pure..."
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR BLOOD!"
Hannah almost raised her arms to protect her face at Harry's outburst. However, he wasn't finished.
"Let me tell you something, Ernie Macmillan! My father was murdered by Voldemort!" The name made Hannah cringe. "My mother was so badly injured by him that she was lucky to survive! I don't know how I survived this night, but I am no dark wizard! My family was destroyed by that man! I faced him again last year, and he almost killed my mother, once again! I defend you from ever comparing me to him! And by the way, my mother is Muggle-born! Hermione is Muggle-born, and she is my best friend! Dean Thomas, my roommate, is Muggle-born as well, and he'll tell you that we are good friends as well! You want to find the heir to Slytherin? Start looking at those who call my friend a Mudblood! That's why I broke Malfoy's nose earlier this year! And by the way, he's the one who made this snake appear, not me!"
On that, Harry walked away, but before he disappeared behind the shelves again, he turned to face them one last time. He was still angry.
"By the way, I don't know why I can speak to snakes. I don't know how I can do it. I didn't choose to. But I'm glad that I can. Because if I couldn't, Justin would be dead right now, and instead of imagining all kinds of stories about me, you would be mourning your friend."
Then he left. They all remained speechless. The entire library was even more silent than usual as they heard heavy footsteps, those an angry person made when she walked, fade away after a door was loudly opened and closed. For a long time, they all remained there, unmoving, silent. It was as if they were all Petrified. Were they? Hannah almost worried that Harry just did it to all of them when Sally-Anne spoke up.
"Is it true that his mother is Muggle-born?"
It surprised Hannah so much that she abruptly turned the head to look at Sally. She then realized that she wasn't Petrified, that none of them were. It was a great relief.
Ernie seemed to shake himself back to reality. "He's probably lying."
"But... Hermione Granger is a friend of him, isn't she?" Sally-Anna continued. "I even heard people saying that she was his girlfriend, and..."
"Granger is not his girlfriend! It's a stupid rumour from last year that only idiots believe."
Perhaps it hadn't been Ernie's intention, but Hannah felt targeted by his last remark.
"Look, everyone. You heard him. He's after Justin. So I suggest we make sure that Justin stays in our common as often as possible, and we always stay close to him when he's going to class or leaving it. Christmas holidays are after this week. I mean to say, we should be able to protect Justin until then."
"But what will happen after the holidays?" Megan said. "We cannot escort Justin everywhere he goes all the time for the rest of the year."
"If it comes to that, we will do it. But hopefully, Potter will have calmed himself down, and Justin will be safe when we return from the holidays."
Hannah wasn't persuaded by Ernie's reasoning. Out of everything Harry said, there were two things she knew for sure were true : Dean Thomas was his friend, and a Muggle-born too, and Hermione Granger was even closer to him. Hannah had never completely categorized as untrue the rumours about them being together. Perhaps it was just because she found the story romantic after they fought a troll together at Halloween. But if Harry was really Slytherin's heir, if he was really after Muggle-born students, why not attack those closest to him first? Unless, like Justin advanced, Harry only attacked Muggle-borns who annoyed or displeased him.
Hannah really wasn't sure what to believe. Her mother was Muggle-born, so Hannah was deeply affected when Colin Creevey was Petrified. It could have been her mother in his place. She guessed this was why she had that nightmare last night. She was in the middle of her thoughts when Peeves' voice, more high-pitched than ever, reached them.
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAAAAAACK!"
Hannah and her friends all stormed out of the library, heading towards the origin of the screams. When they arrived where Peeves was, Hannah screamed even louder than the poltergeist did. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor House, was floating, immobile, in the air, unmoving, now black instead of being white. And right under him, Justin was there as well, motionless, lying on the floor. Petrified. Many other students were already there, including Susan.
"Caught in the act!" Ernie shouted. Hannah followed his finger to see Harry, standing not far away from Justin.
An hour later, they were all assembled in Hufflepuff's common room. Discussions were rampant. Everyone had an opinion about today's events. Everybody was certain that Harry Potter Petrified Justin. Worse was that he managed to Petrify a ghost. If ghosts could be targeted, then no one was safe. When Ernie walked inside the common room, everybody fell on him. He had brought Nearly Headless Nick to the hospital wing with a big fan Professor McGonagall had conjured for him.
"They put Justin next to Colin Creevey. Madam Pomfrey clearly didn't know what to do with Nearly Headless Nick," Ernie gave as an answer to all their questions. He let himself fall heavily into a cushioned chair. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for the next thing he would say. "I knew it was going to happen. I should have stayed next to Justin, made sure he didn't leave the common room."
"It's not your fault, Ernie," Hannah, trying to comfort him. "You couldn't keep an eye on him all day long."
"I told him to stay in the common room," Ernie now said in anger. "What was he doing out there? And what about Susan? She was supposed to watch over him. Where is she?"
He asked the question to the whole crowd assembled around him, which comprised almost all the Hufflepuff students. Everyone started to look around, but Susan was nowhere to be found.
"I saw her leaving with Professor McGonagall and Potter after you left with Nick," a student in his seventh year said. "I don't know where they went."
"Well, I'm eager to hear her explanations."
Conversations were rekindled all across the common room, but Ernie remained a main center of interest. He explained to everybody now how Harry Potter was definitely the heir to Slytherin, and that now that they knew he could Petrify a ghost, no one was safe. Nearly Headless Nick must have surprised him while he was attacking Justin, and to remove any witness, Harry Petrified Nick as well. That also meant that no Muggle-born was safe. All students in the common room who had Muggle parents seemed extremely concerned. Hannah understood them. Everything Ernie was saying made sense now. There was no doubt left. Harry Potter was the heir to Slytherin.
No one went to the Great Hall for lunch. Hannah herself wasn't hungry. They all remained in their common room, discussing vividly, worrying who might be the next victim. That was until the entrance of the common room opened, and Susan walked in, her reddish brown hair falling free all around her scared face to the opposite of the long plait in which she usually brought it. Hannah realized that, as a result of herself playing with her pigtails because of her stress, her own hair was now free and blocking part of her view. She removed the strands over her left eye and looked at Susan while half the common room rushed to her.
"Hey, Susan, where were you?"
"Are you okay?"
"Was Potter expelled?"
"Is he still at Hogwarts?"
"Why did McGonagall asked you to follow her?"
"Where were you?"
Questions rained on her. Hannah made herself a way through the crowd and helped Susan get through it. "Let's go the dormitory," Hannah told her, and Susan seemed agree entirely.
They were halfway through the common room, questions coming from everywhere again, when Ernie stepped in front of them. They stopped, and the other students stopped as well. Ernie had red eyes, and he looked furious as well, almost as much as Harry this morning in the library.
"I told you to stay with Justin," he slowly said. "You were supposed to make sure he would stay in the common room." Then he exploded. "HOW COULD YOU LET THAT HAPPEN?"
Hannah looked at Susan, concerned for her friend. Susan was looking to the floor. "I'm sorry, Ernie. I never thought that..." She couldn't manage to finish her sentence. Hannah recognized the time when her friend couldn't get her words out because she was ashamed or sad.
"What? That Potter wouldn't attack Justin?" Ernie asked, outright furious. "You knew he was dangerous, that it was only a matter of time before..."
"Harry didn't Petrify Justin!"
Susan snapped in such a way that even Hannah was surprised. Her friend wasn't looking down the floor in shame anymore. She was staring at Ernie right in the eyes, and her whole body was tensed. Hannah could feel it through the hand she had laid on Susan's shoulder.
"Don't tell me you still believe he's innocent, Susan?" Ernie said, clearly not being able to conceive that someone could still say that Harry Potter didn't do anything to Justin. Hannah had to concede that she didn't understand herself how Susan could still say that Harry was innocent after what they saw this morning. "You saw it, just like all of us. Potter was there, next to Justin. He's the one who Petrified Justin. That's his doing."
"No, it's not. Because Harry wasn't there when I found Justin."
The words Susan just uttered stunned the whole room. But just as Susan had been standing tall and solid, she almost seemed to crumble under Hannah's hand. She looked away from Ernie and resumed talking.
"It's my fault," she said. "I convinced Justin to leave the common room."
"What?" Ernie looked completely scandalized.
"I told him it was useless and stupid to just run away and hide. We began to discuss what happened yesterday, and he wasn't sure anymore if the snake really attacked him on Harry's orders. I told him the best thing to do was just to find Harry and ask him what he really told this serpent."
It was as if somebody had Petrified the whole Hufflepuff's common room. Except for Hannah, as she slowly felt her hand slip away from her friend's shoulder. It was as if she saw Susan for the first time.
Ernie was the one to break the silence, and when he did, he detached every word that came out of his mouth. "You... told... Justin... to... go... and... see... Harry... Potter. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ABOUT?"
The whole room echoed Ernie's outrage and stupefaction. Hannah herself couldn't get her eyes off Susan. How could her friend do something so dumb?
"Look! Look! Look! I'm not stupid. I accompanied Justin outside our common room." The calm slowly came back, to a certain extent, as Susan explained herself. "We all know someone is attacking Muggle-born students. I didn't want Justin to walk alone in the corridors, especially not with the actual weather. We left the common room together." Now everyone was listening to Susan as if she was Albus Dumbledore himself telling important things to the whole school. "We were heading for the Gryffindor Tower, but on the way, Peeves surprised us from behind a statue. Justin was so freaked out that he ran away as if a dragon was chasing him. I tried to catch him up, but I lost him. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, but I lost him. I searched for him, and when I finally managed to find him, he was on the floor, Petrified, with Nearly Headless Nick close. I approached to see if he was alright. That's when Harry arrived from the other side of the corridor. He was just as surprised as I was. Then Peeves emerged from one of the classrooms and began to scream, and you all came."
No one dared to say a word. And again, Ernie broke the silence. "Well, then, we have it. He was there. He Petrified Justin, then he Petrified the ghost as well to leave no witness. He was leaving when he saw you arrive, so he hid and came outside his hiding when he saw you too. For once, we should be glad that Peeves was around to save the situation, or else you would probably be Petrified too, Susan."
There were several murmurs of approval all around the room, and Hannah found it was quite likely what happened. But when she looked to Susan, she saw that her friend clearly didn't share her opinion.
"Are you that dumb, Ernie?" she snapped again. "Harry didn't attack me. I told you, he was just as surprised as I was to find Justin here. We stared at each other for probably a minute before he dared to say something. And he only asked me, What happened? That's all he said. Then Peeves burst from nowhere and called everybody."
Complete silence settled again. As in a cycle without end, Ernie spoke again. "Why are you defending him, Susan? Come on! It's obviously him! He's a Parselmouth!"
"Parselmouth or not, he is Harry Potter. He's the one who defeated You-Know-Who. You really believe he could Petrify people? Or that he would be capable of Petrifying a ghost? The one of his own house?"
"Well, Susan," Megan started, "how did he defeat You-Know-Who? I mean, like Ernie told us before, how could he defeat him? We have no idea. What if he was a dark wizard and it was the reason why You-Know-Who tried to kill him and failed?"
Susan scoffed. Hannah seldom saw her in such a state. "Really? That's what you're thinking now? Okay." She stared at Ernie. "Let's suppose that Harry is a dark wizard, and that this is why he can speak Parseltongue, and why he could Petrify Colin Creevey and Justin."
"He did," Ernie said. "He was close to the scene of the crime each time, Susan."
"Not for Mrs Norris. We were all there, Ernie. Harry wasn't present that evening. He wasn't there when we found the cat hanging on the wall. He can't have done it."
"No, he wasn't," Ernie conceded. "But that doesn't mean he didn't do it. Potter wasn't in the Great Hall for Halloween's feast. I know because I saw his two friends, Ron and Hermione, alone. Who saw Potter in the Great Hall that night?" he asked everybody in the common room. No one raised his hand or answered by the affirmative. "He wasn't there, Susan, because he was planning his first attack."
"No, he wasn't."
"How can you be so sure, after everything that happened? You're blinded by his fame."
"I'm not blinded by anything, Ernie. I just happen to know where Harry was that night, and he wasn't at Hogwarts."
"What do you mean? Where was he if he wasn't at Hogwarts?"
"He was at Godric's Hollow, hundred of miles away." No one seemed to understand what Susan was saying. She looked around. "What? October 31, 1981. It tells you nothing?"
For a moment, Hannah didn't know what Susan was getting at. And then, she remembered.
"It's the day You-Know-Who was defeated," Susan explained, as if they were all children. Hannah herself was ashamed to have momentarily forgotten the date of this crucial event. "Harry's family lived in Godric's Hollow back then. Every year, Harry and his mother go to Godric's Hollow to visit his father's grave. That's why he wasn't there for Halloween' feast. He wasn't there last year either."
"How do we know he was really at Godric's Hollow?" Ernie asked.
"Well, you'll just need to ask his mother. And if he was at Godric's Hollow that night, he cannot be the one who Petrified Mrs Norris. And if he didn't Petrify Mrs Norris, then that means someone else did it, and it is the same person who probably Petrified Colin and Justin."
"He could have released the monster before he left the school that night. Don't forget that the Chamber of Secrets is inhabited by a monster. The monster must have hidden until Potter came back and brought it back into the Chamber."
"Ernie, listen to you! It's not me who's blinded by Harry's fame. It is you who is blinded. By fear! All that because you heard him speak to a snake!"
"He's a Parselmouth! Only dark wizards are Parselmouth. Can you name me a single Parselmouth who happened to be a good person?"
Susan didn't seem to have an answer to that for a moment, but she finally answered. "Like my aunt says, we do not judge someone by what he can do, but on what he does. And what I know for sure from yesterday is that this serpent was threatening Justin, and after Harry talked to it, the serpent was lying down, unmoving, until Professor Snape made it disappear. Now, if you want to believe you saw something else, Ernie, that's your problem. What I can tell you is that Harry didn't attack Justin, and he cannot have attacked Mrs Norris either. Excuse me now."
On those words, Susan went through the crowd and entered the girls' dormitory. She was barely in that Ernie talked again.
"Look, everyone. Susan is free to believe what she wants, but Harry Potter is dangerous. Be careful around him."
Most students approved him. Hannah remained there, uncertain about what to do for a moment. Then she shook her head and walked to the girls' dormitory, intent on finding her friend.
Susan was sitting on her bed, brushing her hair. Hannah noticed a long time ago that Susan would do it at any hour of the day when she was agitated or outraged. Her hands were shaking. Hannah carefully closed the door behind her and sat on Megan's bed, positioning herself right in front of Susan.
"Are you alright?" Hannah asked.
"Yes," Susan replied shortly. Her voice was quivering as well.
"You really found... Justin's body first?"
"Yes."
Hannah understood why Susan was shaking from all the parts of her body. It had been traumatic for her to see Justin Petrified, unable to move, lying on the floor with an expression of fear glued to his face, with dozens of other people around her. She couldn't imagine what it might have been for Susan to find their friend all alone, and then to face Harry when he just happened by the scene. The bed-warmers made the blankets under Hannah warm and comfortable, but she couldn't enjoy them right now. Her mind was entirely preoccupied by Justin's fate.
"Do you think he's suffering? Justin, I mean?"
Susan was continuing to brush her hair mechanically. "I don't know," she said in a whisper.
They remained silent for a very long time. Was Justin conscious of what was going on? Hannah tried to imagine herself in that state, where she could see and feel everything around her, but was unable to respond or move in any way, imprisoned into her own body. She found herself wishing that Justin was unconscious. She even thought for a moment that it would be better if he was dead, until she remembered Professor Sprout had Mandrakes that could save Justin. She hoped they would be ready soon.
She wanted to ask Susan why she brought Justin outside the common room. She wanted to tell her that she shouldn't have done this. But Susan was her friend, and she looked as miserable as Hannah felt right now. She kept those words for her. Instead, she asked Susan the other question that was burning inside.
"Susan... You're sure that it's not Harry Potter who did that?"
Susan stopped brushing her hair. She looked straight into Hannah's eyes. "I found Justin, Hannah, and he was all alone in that corridor. Harry only arrived afterwards. I looked into his eyes, Hannah. He was just as terrified and surprised as I was."
Hannah didn't want to doubt her friend's word, not with the way she was talking about it. But everything Ernie said made sense, everything seemed to be holding up. However, it was Susan who found Justin. And Susan was her friend. How could she doubt her word? And there was the fact that, according to her, Harry was in Godric's Hollow the night Mrs Norris was Petrified.
"How did you know that Harry went to Godric's Hollow at Halloween?" Hannah asked her. Susan had resumed brushing her hair, even though her hair didn't look like it needed it.
"I saw him there once, a long time ago. It was before we arrived at Hogwarts. My parents told me back then that Harry and his mother visited his father's grave every year the day of Halloween. They also crossed their path at Godric's Hollow last year, the same day."
Hannah was taken aback by Susan's revelation. She only cared about the first two sentences she said. "Wait. You knew Harry Potter before you arrived at Hogwarts?" Her passion for gossips took over. "Why did you never tell me before."
"I didn't know him, Hannah," she replied on an exasperated tone. "I just met him there when I was six, I think. My parents and I, we happened to visit Godric's Hollow on Halloween, and we just came upon Harry and his mother. She and my parents knew each other. They talked a little. I talked a little with Harry."
"You talked with Harry Potter before he was here? Well, that's already something. If I had this chance, I would have told everyone about this." She was suddenly somewhat angry at Susan for hiding this from her.
"We barely spoke for a minute or two. I don't even remember what we talked about. He wasn't very talkative anyway, and me neither back then." Susan made a movement with her hand. "It was a lifetime ago. We were kids. I didn't even recognize him on the train or in the boats, or even during the Sorting Ceremony before his name was called. He didn't recognize me either. He probably doesn't even remember that we met back then. He was the same age than me."
"Well, still... I mean, meeting Harry Potter, that's not something mundane. I mean, we're used to him now, but you remember how excited I was to see him last year, the day we arrived?"
"Yes, I remember, Hannah. But at the end of the day, Harry is just a child like us. Well, mostly, I guess. He defeated You-Know-Who, after all. Without him, I might be dead."
"What do you mean?"
Susan stopped brushing her hair once more. She looked aside for a moment, then she threw her comb on her bedsheets and went to take something in her belongings. She took a beautiful leather-covered book. Hannah had seen her friend look through it before, but she never allowed any of her friends to see what was inside of it. Hannah, however, peered over Susan's shoulder one day, out of curiosity, as she was looking at it, and saw that there were photos inside. This time, however, she didn't have to peer or spy, for Susan opened the book, turned a few pages, then handed it to Hannah. She saw the photo of a handsome man with a woman standing next to him, an arm around her shoulder, and several children with them.
"It's my uncle Edgar, along with my aunt and my cousins. He was murdered during the last war, before I was born. My aunt and my cousins too. Everyone on this photo, and my grandparents, they were all killed by You-Know-Who and his followers. My aunt Amelia kept fighting, but my parents went into hiding after their deaths. That's how I was born, cut from the rest of the world, my parents afraid that Death Eaters or You-Know-Who himself would come to kill us."
Hannah looked at the photo of all these people who were dead. Some of Susan's cousins were barely toddlers on the photo. Susan turned the page. The space was entirely occupied by a front page of the Daily Prophet. From the date, this article was published on December 14, 1981. The title indicated NATIONAL FUNERALS FOR JAMES POTTER, LAST VICTIM OF THE GREAT WIZARDING WAR. Under the large title, a photo showed a large group of people in front of a grave. Hannah recognized some of them, including Albus Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall, Professor Filius Flitwick, the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, and even Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts' gamekeeper, who held a large handkerchief on his face but was impossible to miss. However, it was a woman who was holding a little boy in her arms that Susan pointed to on the photo.
The woman looked very young, maybe in her early twenties, not much older than the seventh-year students Hannah knew at Hogwarts, but it was her son who got her attention pretty quickly. He had scar on his forehead.
"It's Harry, with his mother, at his father's funerals," Susan explained.
Hannah looked at the little boy on the photo. Aside from the scar, there was nothing to give away who this baby was. He looked like any ordinary toddler, with a round face, big cheeks, very short hair. She couldn't have guessed it was Harry without the scar.
"And look there." Susan pointed other people on the photo. They were a man and a woman, holding a toddler who seemed to be about the same age as Harry Potter on this photo. Right away, though, Hannah noticed something that intrigued her in the woman. She looked very familiar. She raised her eyes to Susan.
"These are your parents?" she asked. Then Hannah pointed the baby. "And it is you there? You were at James Potter's funerals?"
"Yes." Susan had a grim look on her face. "My parents and Harry's parents knew each other. My uncle fought You-Know-Who with them. He was murdered with all his family for that. And if You-Know-Who wasn't destroyed that night in 1981, my aunt would probably be dead as well, and my parents. Maybe I would be dead too. I, and who's left of my family, are alive thanks to Harry." Hannah had never seen Susan so serious. "I can't believe, even for a single moment, that he is behind those attacks. Anyway, we know he can't have attacked Mrs Norris, and I know for a fact that he couldn't have attacked Justin. Someone else did it."
Hannah looked at the photos. Seeing Harry at this age, it was hard to believe that he could be behind all those Petrifications. And if Susan said so...
"I believe you," Hannah simply said. Susan remained silent. Hannah gave her back her photo album. Susan took it back and put it back into its place among her belongings. "I'm not sure that Ernie and the others will believe that Harry is innocent, though." Hannah herself still had doubts, truth be told.
Susan sighed. "They're really dumb." She sat back heavily on her bed. "While they accuse Harry of everything, the real culprit is running free. And the more I think about it, the more I think that someone is framing Harry."
"What?"
"Think about it, Hannah. The victims, they all had interactions with Harry that didn't go well in the days preceding their Petrification. For the last two, Harry was around when they were assaulted. I think whoever is the heir of Slytherin, he chose his targets on purpose, to make sure Harry would be suspected and that he would be left alone."
"But who could have done this? He must have been very close to where the attacks happened then. Did you see anyone before you found Justin Petrified?"
"Not really. The corridors were empty. There was Peeves, of course, who made Justin run as if his life depended on it," Susan said, looking up as if she was researching her mind.
"You think Peeves could have done it?" Hannah asked. It was true that Peeves was known for playing horrible tricks.
"I don't think so." Susan didn't seem convinced, and on second thoughts, Hannah found this idea quite unlikely. "I mean, it's Peeves. He causes trouble everywhere. He makes jokes nobody finds funny but him. But he never did something like that, and never to another ghost."
"If there was no one else in the corridors, then who could have done it?"
"I don't know. I didn't really pay attention to other students. I was only looking for Justin. I think I saw a tall student from Slytherin, or maybe Ravenclaw, I'm not sure anymore. He was far from me. There was also this girl, Ron's little sister. I think I saw her too from behind. I know because no one else has red hair like her. And I think I also saw another first-year, from Slytherin maybe. There were really not many people. At this hour, almost everybody was in the classrooms. And everybody looked normal."
"Who could have done this? Who could be the heir of Slytherin?" Hannah asked.
"I don't know, but whoever he is, he's walking freely around Hogwarts, and we have no idea who he might be. Who knows who his next victim could be?" Susan asked herself on an ominous tone.
I chose Hannah Abbott as a POV because she seemed to be ambivalent and uncertain about Harry being the heir of Slytherin, and I wanted to reflect this uncertainty while also showing students who both are certain that Harry is guilty and some who don't believe it. This is definitely not her last chapter.
Please review.
Next chapter: Lily