Chapter 16
Writing's on the wall
Chamber of Secrets
Hermione didn't mind that Ron was seated on the table corner of their regular study room, she didn't like sitting right next to the boy anyways, as the Weasley had a tendency to copy her homework, often against her expressed dislike. She didn't fancy their seating arrangements mostly because Ron was fiddling around with his second rental wand, a very bright piece of maple wood with a swirly handle, the girl being seated at the relatively same angle at which Marley was struck with a bad case of snail barfing yesterday.
By the way, the study room in question has been slightly refurbished by way of Marley and Hermione, some flower arrangements above the chimney and a few dragon figurines to decorate the mostly empty shelves, able to be used by various students to store various books and other items, mostly Ron's comic magazines. The quartet had yet to come up with a proper name for their hideout, though oftentimes the Slytherin of the group referred to it as the Hall of Justice, some silly Muggle pop culture reference only understood by Harry, though he wasn't exactly sure if it was the hideout of the X-Men or the Justice League.
"Can you please stop with that?", Hermione finally asked her friend, Ron immediately getting what the girl's complaint was and putting his wand back into his coat pocket.
"I think this one is better.", he tried to assure them, Harry sitting on a couch a bit removed from the table.
"Have you tried using it yet?", the Boy who lived asked, Ronald shaking his head in a shameful frown.
"I've been too scared to...", he mumbled to the room.
And then, as if to make his point even more clear, Marley finally joined her friends with a rice cake stuck between her front teeth.
"'orning", the girl greeted the gang, Harry almost jolting up from his seated position in excitement, though ultimately choosing against it.
"Are you feeling any better?", Hermione politely inquired, the Slytherin sitting down next to her, coincidentally further away from Ronald, the boy taking it somewhat to heart.
"A lil'.", she once again rambled before finally taking a bite from her late breakfast, "Madame Pomfrey gave me these, but they're hardly food, if I'm honest.", she continued with a full mouth.
By the time Marley had finished her sentence Harry joined the others at the table, the same book on Defence Against the Dark Arts on his person that the Slytherin dropped onto the table in front of herself.
"We still have a few minutes before Potions starts.", Hermione began in her usual, proper manner of speaking, "Since you were ill yesterday, I helped out with some of your assignments."
"Thank you, Hermione.", the hungry girl politely answered, her Gryffindor friend feeling quite satisfied with herself.
"Wait a minute...", Ron began to protest, "You said you're not allowing us to copy your homework anymore!"
"Obviously this is an exception, Ron.", Miss Granger sharply corrected the boy, "Marley was throwing up slugs all the way till dinner. Of course I was going to help her."
"So...", he incorrectly put together, "...if I blast myself with the same curse-"
"She'd kick you in the shin on top.", Marley finished his thought, causing Hermione to giggle and Ron to frown rather comically.
Harry's giggle was not as noticeable, though it seemed to carry so much more emotion than Hermione's, at least Marley thought so. The girl also briefly thought about how adorable her friend looked when he laughed like that.
That's when her eyes caught onto his reading material.
"Is that Book of Spells, Second Year Edition?", she asked with big eyes and a shimmer in her voice that immediately got Harry to sit upright.
"Yeah.", the boy stumbled over his words as he adjusted his glasses, "I know for a fact it was on the reading materials list for this year. But I have a keen suspicion that Lockhart is only going to be talking about his own books."
"His own fiction, you mean.", Ron jabbed in, causing Hermione to release her frustrations in a grunt.
"I think...", was how her rant started, "...we should all give Professor Lockhart a chance. Maybe he'll surprise us."
"He sure loves surprises.", Harry added in a dour tone, "He made me rearrange all of his robes by colour yesterday. Looked like a rainbow in there."
"That does sound pretty aggravating...", Hermione conceded quietly.
"It was. Said I was going to help him sort through his fan mail today. He thinks I have 'experience in that field'. Or something like it."
With a loud bang Marley closed her own copy of Book of Spells, angrily sharing her distain for the boy's punishment.
"That is honestly unacceptable. I was hoping we were past that phase where random strangers gawk at Harry all the time.", before their conversation could derail again, she refocused her efforts on what sparked their discussion in the first place, "But regardless, I'm glad you're reading into it as well. It's got some very interesting material in there. If Lockhart sticks to schedule, we'll be doing disarming spells sometime after Christmas."
"Really?", Harry lit up, immediately causing Hermione and Ron to turn invisible, the Boy who lived quickly switching seats, as to be in the empty chair right next to Marley.
"Let's see... here.", the Slytherin began, Harry and her briefly forming their own little study group.
At this, Hermione let out a sigh, Ron hastily doing his Potions homework with the little time he had left.
"How's your detention going?", she asked the Weasley, who reacted with significant delay.
"Uh... it's fine. McGonagall gives me a lot of work to do, but it's mostly simple stuff."
She let her eyebrows bounce up as Marley rejoined their conversation, Harry stuck to her side with his eyes glued to the page.
"Detention with Snape is actually very fun.", she began as Harry kept reading, "It's a lot of inventory and refilling ingredients. Gross body parts in liquid jars."
"Ew...", Hermione whined as she pictured it.
"Cool.", Ron reacted very much in the opposite way.
"Exactly. I wish I'd been a troublemaker more often, to be honest.", Marley declared.
"Well...", Hermione spoke like a sigh, "At least one of you is enjoying extracurricular work."
"Now we know how you're feeling.", Ron told his female friend, Hermione reacting halfway insulted and halfway proud.
"I wouldn't mind doing more Potions, really.", Marley said before her gaze went back to the page on the disarming spell, "I just wish we had some kind of Defence Against the Dark Arts Club. Do actual lessons on that instead of being part of Lockhart's Book Club."
Hermione frowned ever so slightly as she began packing her things.
"Until then you'll have to establish your own book club.", the girl addressed both Marley and Harry, the two of them only now realizing how close to each other they were sitting.
"Hm. That doesn't sound very bad, to be honest.", Marley began to ponder it, a smile forming on her and Harry's features, "We'll have to think of something."
On their way to the dungeons and Potions class, Harry and Marley were engaged in lively discussion on how to implement their untitled club project, both already finding common ground with the goal of making it more... praxis-oriented magic. As Hermione watched her two friends so enthusiastically talking about school, she briefly turned to Ron walking on her left.
"We could create our own club as well.", she suggested semi-timidly.
"Pass.", Ronald responded, an answer deeply insulting the girl.
"There has got to be at least one Hogwarts subject you like, Ron.", she nagged him. The Weasley really thought on it for a few seconds, eventually responding with the most mischievous of smirks.
"I know which club we could establish.", he spoke.
"Really?", she lit up as she turned all the way to him.
"Yeah. Hermione's Homework Copying Club."
By the time the quartet arrived at their classroom Ron had begun complaining about a pronounced pain in his shin.
"Dragon liver?", the viscous voice of Snape echoed through his office, serving partly as a storage space, the entire room possessing a pronounced smell mixing the static odour of a cellar with that of several hundred potion ingredients.
"Four.", Marley responded, her task for today being the precise tracking of how many jars of various items the Potions professor still had left.
"Liquorice?"
"Five, plus two more stored in the back."
Yet another box ticked with shocking speed.
"Wartizome?"
"Half a jar. We marked it yesterday, remember?"
Her teacher finally bothered looking over to her, his blood, most likely a dark green colour, boiling as he spotted his protégé with her head dug into a book.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?", he exclaimed with an uncomfortable sting in his tone. The girl closed her reading material right away, though managed to not flinch or react scared in any capacity.
"I counted all the shelves already. I can multitask."
Snape took a second to readjust both his anger as well as his cloak, the man always moving as if a spectre submerged in water.
"Poison ivy?"
"16 jars, one crate in the back."
"Mercury?"
"Two vials."
"Sar dine?"
"Three jars in the freezer."
"Unicorn hair?"
"Trick question, it's been empty for a week."
A moment of haunting silence ensued as Severus Snape eyed her with a similarly haunting persistence as a Great Owl would eye its prey.
"And what do you expect to gain, were you to mix all of these ingredients into a potion?"
Now with this he had the girl on her toes, though rather than fold under the pressure, Marely saw it as a challenge, briefly tossing the question in her mind as she pulled from every bit of knowledge she had stored in her long-term memory.
"Well... unicorn hair is used in Beautification Potions, there's no real medicinal value to it. Now, poison ivy causes blisters, unless mashed in which case the effect it has on skin tissue depends entirely on the other ingredients. Mercury is toxic in raw form, vaporizing quickly under enough heat. And... that combined with sardines..."
She couldn't tell what exactly was going through Snape's head as she pieced it together, whether his strange scowl showed pride or anger or something else. The girl chose to ignore his demeanour entirely, a few more seconds all she needed to come up with the answer to his question, presenting it with an arrogant smirk.
"A transformation solution. In vapor form, it would transform someone's skin and give it fish scales."
"Wrong.", he whipped as her thunder was taken, much like he took the book from her grasp as punishment.
"But... what did I get wrong?"
He turned to her strangely pumped, most of his word spoken through gritted teeth.
"The potency of mercury necessitates far more than mild transformation on the subject's skin. The effect would be much greater, causing horrific mutation within a person that would permanently alter his or her DNA and give whoever applied this mixture gills, fins, and an insatiable hunger for small crustaceans."
By the end of his rant, he pounded his desk with her copy of Book of Spells, causing some of the glass objects on it to shake as if in the midst of an earthquake. Marley felt rather small and helpless at first, though it didn't stop her mind from problem solving immediately, eager to find out where she went wrong.
"When under my guidance, you are to focus on the contents and knowledge of this room alone. Understood?"
"Mercury isn't that potent."
Hearing the young witch object to his verdict rather than apologize definitely intrigued the man more so than further enrage him.
"I remember the chapter on liquid metals. Mercury's potency isn't described nearly as severe as you just mentioned."
"That is because teaching material presupposes the more common, synthesized variant. Natural mercury is one of the most dangerous materials known to the craft of potion making."
The man in black calmed down slightly after this, refocusing his efforts back on the shelves as he checked whether or not Marely's earlier numbers were correct, surprised to find that they indeed were.
"I don't understand why it would be written that way then. Isn't it wrong?", the girl innocently asked.
"Wrong, yes. Incorrect, no. It is simply insufficient knowledge meant for the basic acquirement of skills for a group of insolent children such as yourself."
While in her heart she really wanted to continue, Marley was smart enough to keep her mouth shut.
"Read during your detention again and it will be prolonged until New Years. Understood?"
"Understood, professor.", was all it needed for her to keep this whole conflict under a lid. For now.
"How is he?", Snape eventually barked as he continued to be impressed by Marley's earlier counting skill.
"I'm... sorry?"
"Lock hart.", he snapped, his anger as potent and as apparent as mercury, additionally tapping her Defence Against the Dark Arts tome.
"Um...", she began, her distain also very apparent, though merely as sharp as the synthesized alternative, "How openly can I speak?"
"As frankly as I conduct myself around you, Miss Verpe.", Snape gave back, finally turning to face the girl as their conversation continued. Marley took an exhausted breath before proceeding.
"He's awful. Doesn't really stick to the curriculum. We mostly just discuss his... books."
The Slytherin girl did finally flinch as Snape, heaving a crate onto his desk, smacked said item onto the surface in an explosive thud, no longer able to hold back his frustrated grunts alongside it. It took Marley some extra seconds to comprehend where all of this was coming from.
"You wanted that position. Didn't you?"
"I deserved that position over a pompous celebrity.", having been made aware of his hysteria, Snape began the process of turning down his heated emotions, "The same way you deserve your perfect grades in my class. Because in a fair world, results and intelligence are rewarded."
She scoffed, seeing a more human side of Severus for the first time ever.
"In a perfect world I'd teach Potions and you'd be able to do Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Don't fluster your arrogance.", he shot back immediately, causing Marley's smirk to dissolve quickly, "Mr. Potter's influence on you is as clear as day."
Reminded of the nasty letter of her parents, Marley couldn't help but ask.
"Professor?", she began slowly, Snape's lack of an answer telling her it's okay to ask, "Did... did my parents write to you about... Harry? And my other friends?"
"They did.", he responded coldly while taking out empty flasks from the crate he previously used to make a point. The girl gulped before being able to inquire any further on the subject.
"W... what did you-"
"My response was not surprising. I agreed with their assertion that Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley fail to have a positive influence on you. They will hinder your academic achievements slowly over time.", was part one of his answer, causing Marley's blood to freeze as her eyes were stuck to his desk.
"I am however not interested in becoming your personal guardian, nor am I invested in checking on the everyday social ongoings of a prepubescent child. I will continue to reprimand you for your insolence and strongly advise you to not be dragged down by slobs.", he took a brief pause as his glassy gaze met her chestnut eyes, "But I will not do any more than that. Your social company is your own choice, even when it pertains to Potter and Weasley."
While still very harsh and probably too much on any other students, to Marley it meant a lot to hear this.
"Thank you, professor.", her quiet answer sounded through the dingy basement.
"Do not thank me yet.", he spoke in his more usual cadence before handing her a full crate of dirty flasks and vials, "Wash these. I want them back in pristine condition. Is that clear?"
"Absolutely, professor.", she couldn't help but answer with a smirk.
"After that you may leave.", was his final verdict as he returned to some leftover Potions ingredients pushed to the corner of his desk. Just as Marley began her work and turned on the faucet, Snape added one last thing in a matt tone.
"Don't forget your book on the way out, Marlene."
The girl didn't know what to think of that but chose to see it as a positive for now.
Marley left detention with an odd feeling in her stomach. Most likely the sensation stemmed from a lack of dinner, though as her mind was racing all over the place it became clear that it was more to her.
For a few days there had been a recessive fear on her mind as to what her parents would do and how much they could get involved while the girl was inside Hogwarts. Many parents bluff when it comes to their children, so the threat of taking away her friends was, most likely that, a bluff. Snape, even if his hatred for Harry was a thousand times more pronounced, would never get involved in her personal life. Not just because he apparently had a fondness for the witch, but because it just wasn't very Snape to let his emotions get the better of him. And it's not like Lugmilla and Abner Verpe would take their daughter out of Hogwarts, the most prestigious magic institution in the English-speaking world. Not even Ilvermorny on the American East Coast or Totemilcon in Oregon could reach the reputation the historic little castle in Scottland held, neither could the smaller Oshana Institute on Tasmania.
So why was it on her mind so much? At this point the girl wandered somewhat aimlessly through random hallways, the majority of her mental energy occupied with this for now. Was she really scared of her parents? Was she really that afraid of losing her friends? Hermione? Ron? Harry?
Harry. At the thought of the boy Marley took note of a strange reaction within her system, heightened breathing, a tingling in her hands, a heat in her abdomen going all the way to her throat. Alright, at least something to latch onto for now.
Obviously losing any one of her friends would be terrible. Ron always provided a fun, calming presence half the time, the other half it was hilarious to mess with his insecurities. Hermione was her best friend, that much they'd established, and she was rather happy at the thought. Hermione was never boring, despite what some might say in regards to her academic prowess. She'd have been immensely upset to lose either of those two.
But then there's Harry. Thinking off an alternate outcome of events, Marley came to the conclusion that she would go absolutely mental on everything and everyone if she'd lose Harry. From their first encounter the boy had been a positive influence on her life and mental health. He was always there for her, always an anchor in any situation that required a person to lean onto. If she lost Harry, she would... she would...
The tears came suddenly and en masse, covering her cheeks quickly as Marley was halted briefly, shocked to discover her own reaction. Losing Harry wouldn't just be horrible it would... it would ruin her. She just... she couldn't. She...
With all of this emotion bubbling up inside her a new thought was born, one that occasionally came up in the past, though never stuck for long. Something she didn't consider important enough to explore any further or tell anyone for that matter. It just wasn't worth her time or anyone else's. But now...
Did... did she have feelings for Harry?
Is that why she broke into tears at the hypothetical of losing him? Why all those sensations, from the tingling on her fingers to the heat inside her body were now rapidly increasing in their intensity? Why she thought his giggle was adorable, why she liked it so much how he comforted her during her slug sickness, why she oftentimes pictured his face to help her fall asleep?
It was a thought that sort of horrified her, but also... not. It was a scary feeling, like plunging into darkness, dropping down a rollercoaster, only to come out save on the other side, feeling the wind soar through one's hair, knowing that whatever fears may manifest, once you crossed that lined, once you overcame any darkness plaguing your soul, you'd be fine.
That's what Harry meant to her. That feeling. Now the question was – is this feeling...
"Harry.", she blurted out at the sight of the boy, who would of course manifest in front of her at such a delicate moment.
"Did you hear that?", he asked, having taken note of Marley's presence, though not her emotional distress.
"Harry!", Ron announced his and Hermione's arrival. Where the hell did they come from?!
"Are you alright?", the Gryffindor girl was the only one to notice Marley's tears and heightened, emotional state.
"What? Me?", she blabbered with unnerve, Ron also realizing how strange his friend appeared.
Harry looked up the walls for a few more moments, keenly aware of some invisible force, as if trying to spot something only he could see.
"Can you really not hear that voice?"
"Voice?", Ron asked in a pretty blunt manner.
"I heard it in Lockhart's office first. Then again in the corridor I was in. And just now when-"
He repeated his frantic search, worrying everyone present by a lot. Whatever concerns he had for seeing Marley covered in tears he put aside for now, far more fearful of the echoey voice which whispered the word "kill" over and over again.
"Voice? What voice?", Hermione intercut his search in a concerned tone.
"It's moving.", he declared with a tremble, "I think it's going to kill."
Just as soon as Harry made that assertion the boy sprinted down the hall and took a sharp turn, his friends only barely keeping up with him.
"Kill?!", Ron howled.
" 'It'?", Marley added.
A short action sprint later they found Harry halting at a crack in the wall, a line of spiders escaping into it in a weirdly uniform fashion, as if the arachnoids were hive-minded ants.
"Strange. I've never seen spiders act like that.", the Boy who lived commented. Ron meanwhile took a few precautionary steps to the side, hiding halfway behind his two female friends.
"I don't like spiders...", he mumbled, clearly frightened to the core. It was for that reason Marley, still in turmoil for entirely different reasons, was able to spot a nearby puddle of water.
"What's that?", she asked, her nervous tone matching the situation surprisingly well.
Within the strangely smelling water they spotted upside down writing, making out quickly that it reflected the same letters on the wall next to it. The words were written bold and large, still dripping with a recent freshness that told them whoever committed this act did so only a few minutes ago.
At first Marley thought the letters were written in a red paint, though with a gasp she quickly realized that it was blood.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware...", Hermione read the warning out loud, a noticeable quiver in her voice.
"Oh no.", Harry quietly spoke, a comment somehow not pertaining to the ominous text on the wall.
Instead, the boy walked a few steps over to a strange shape, hanging from a torch extension on the same wall. In a bizarre state, frightened and with its hair standing up, an older-looking cat was attached by its tail, dangling just slightly back and forth, expanding everyone's feelings of eeriness. The petrified creature looked rather uncanny, clearly still alive despite showcasing as much movement as a piece of taxidermy.
"It's Filch's cat. That's Mrs. Norris.", Harry correctly surmised. Ron and Hermione were the only ones noticing the incoming horde of footsteps, unsure whether or not the four of them should leave the scene of the crime or not.
Marley's feelings of eeriness expanded as well, alongside all of the other chaos in her mind and heart. Her gaze could not be removed from Harry, the girl attempting to sort this mess out by merely staring at him, desperately trying to find an answer as to who the Boy who lived really was to her.
Just before the majority of the student body came crossing this exact corridor, Harry's eyes switched over to her, finally taking a moment to really have a proper look at Marley Verpe, a girl who seemed to have the most intense reaction out of anyone present.
"It's going to be okay.", is what came to his mind the quickest, the boy wrongly assuming that the sight of bloody text and a cat turned to stone was the only factor in the girl's shock. The boy grabbing her arm for reassurance was just about the last thing she needed right now.
And when all was too late, the quartet found itself cornered, boys and girls from all four Hogwarts Houses pretty much surrounding them as they looked upon the scene – Ron and Hermione removed from a terrifying sight, Harry and Marley, almost holding hands, standing next to what appeared to be a dead animal and an intimidating message written in blood. Colin Creevy, unaffected by the crass imagery, got out his camera with giddy, Percy stopping him and ultimately preventing the boy from taking a single photo.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware.", came from a Slytherin portion of students, Pansy Parkinson having repeated that part while surrounded by a grinning Crab and Goyle, as well as a skittish Malfoy, "Well, we all know who that refers to."
She bounded her eyebrows at a scared Hermione, the simple gesture more or less a death threat.
"What's going on here?!", a shrill voice and the man it was attached to fighting its way through the crowd of children, "Go on, make way. Make way!"
Filch finally dug himself through the mass of people, spotting the Gryffindor wizard and Slytherin witch first.
"Potter and Verpe. What are you two..."
His mouth snapped close like a mussel, lips quivering as his old and angry eyes spotted the feline homicide committed right next to the children.
Filch had thus far always come across like a performer at a theme park, "The Crypt Keeper of Haunted Hill Mansion", or something of the like, never an actual threat and at worse a very grumpy, underpaid custodian.
"Mrs. Norris?", the man whimpered, that innocent ignorance Harry and Marley held towards the janitor quickly morphing into honest fear, Filch's face turning more and more red by the second, his indescribable grief and rage getting the man to step closer towards the children with genuine, murderous intend.
"You two murdered my cat.", he accused them in a grim tone. In this strange scene that seemed to escalate way too fast over the course of about five minutes, Marley momentarily chose to ignore her inner turmoil, stepping closer to Harry and wrapping herself around his arm in a primal dread. Who cares what her feelings are – when a man is approaching with the expressed wish to harm you, you get closer to the boy you like.
"No... no...", Harry stumbled to defend himself and the girl by his side. Whatever hasty pleading he was able to conjure, it failed to slow down the advancing creep, whose hand was now firmly grabbing the boy's shirt.
"I'll kill you...", Filch mumbled, before his grip tightened, "I'll kill you!"
"Argus?"
The reassuring, elderly voice of the school's headmaster brought at least some level of peace with it, Filch letting go of Harry as he spotted Dumbledore, alongside most of the other Hogwarts teachers, at least the ones Harry knew by name.
"Argus, what...", the bearded wizard began, his questions quickly answered by the injured cat and the ominous graffiti. With a subtle nod the old man assessed the whole situation before addressing the large crowd of students, "Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately!"
Spoken like a legit command, no one dared to hesitate, everyone following suit, Marley finally letting go of Harry with shamed features and colour present, her three friends hesitantly leaving as well, though the Boy who lived suspected that...
"Everyone except...", Dumbledore added quite dramatically, the quartet halting as they and the others turned to the ancient professor, "...the four of you.", he ordered, confirming Harry's suspicions.
Finding themselves to be outsiders once again, they made an embarrassed halt as none of them knew what would happen next. Thankfully they were given a few moments to collect their thoughts as Dumbledore's attention was caught by Hogwarts' janitor breaking into tears, the adults now left alone with the four suspects.
"She's not dead, Argus...", the really old man assured the old man, "She's been petrified."
"Ah! Thought so.", Lockhart proclaimed, very gladly turning himself into the centre of attention, "So unlucky I wasn't here. I know exactly the counter course that would've spared the poor thing!"
In her distress Marley dared to take a peek at Snape, reading a clear level of upset despite the man's keen ability to hide his emotions from the outside world.
"Well...", Dumbledore responded, sounding somewhat like a sigh, "...how she's been petrified, I cannot say."
"Ask them!", Filch added his two cents with a voice like acid, "It's them two that done it! You saw what they wrote on the wall!"
"It's not true, sir, I swear! Neither me nor Marley touched Mrs. Norris."
Technically Harry can't really cover for her since they stumbled over each other moments before the crime happened. But it's not like the Slytherin wasn't infinitely grateful for his defence of her.
"Rubbish! If it wasn't him than his little girlfriend did it!"
Phew, wrong night to say that.
"Leave me alone!", Marley erupted at the man, too confused about things to control herself like usually, though neither Harry nor no one else present blamed her for it.
"If I may, headmaster...", Snape inserted himself, transforming into Marley's very own deus ex machina in that moment, "Miss Verpe has been busy with her detention under my supervision. Had she stolen away and performed anything like this, I surely would've noticed. Otherwise, I don't think she'd have the time to do it afterwards.", he briefly paused as he ignored an appreciative smile of hers, "I however cannot vouch in the same capacity for Mr. Potter."
"Oh, I can." Lockhart made himself useful for once in his teaching career, "Harry over here was helping me answer my fan mail. I'm afraid I kept him there bit too long."
He winked at no one in particular.
"That's when Ron and I were looking for them, professor.", Hermione spoke, once again proving that she was the smartest out of all of them, "We happened to find Harry and Marley when he said..."
She hesitated, Harry's eyes saying anything but "tell them the whole truth".
"Yes, Miss Granger?", Snape started snooping more directly.
"He said he wasn't hungry.", Marley, in a surprise comeback, was able to manage with well-acted fervour, "I argued with him for about half a minute before he finally agreed to eat something. Then Ron and Hermione found us and... we found Mrs. Norris."
Though mild scepticism came with the girl's sudden shift, it ultimately wasn't anything to use as evidence against her or Harry.
"Innocent until proven guilty.", became Dumbledore's verdict, the rest of the teaching staff nodding in agreement.
"My cat's been turned to stone!", Filch protested, the only adult still upset, "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus.", the headmaster responded calmly, "As I understand it, Madame Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrakes."
The teacher in questioned returned to her usual jolly as she nodded.
"When matured, a potion can be produced, a potion which will revive Mrs. Norris."
Filch nodded, though didn't come off as very satisfied.
"In the meantime, I strongly recommend caution... to all."
Shortly after the quartet arrived at the bottom of the Great Stairs, a crossroads which would split their group, though no one noticed how urgently Marley wanted to leave already.
"It's a bit strange, isn't it?", Hermione immediately jumped in.
"Strange?", Harry gave back, sounding annoyed.
"You hear this voice, a voice only you can hear, and then Mrs. Norris turns up petrified. It's just... strange."
"You think I should've told them? Dumbledore and the others, I mean?", the boy asked as they stopped halfway up a staircase.
"Are you mad?", Ron provokingly asked.
"No, Harry.", Hermione spoke with an eerie seriousness in her tone, "Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign."
"Um... I'm gonna go now.", came whining from the bottom of the stairs, Marley looking like she was about to cry again.
"Are you okay?", Harry asked, his one step closer only causing her to take two backwards.
"No uh... I'm... I'm honestly pretty upset about the whole thing. I think I'm just gonna go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow!"
With that abrupt, awkward, clumsy excuse, she did not do much but leave her Gryffindor friends with worried question marks.
"What's going on with her?", a moving picture next to Harry commented.