13

13. The Chamber of Secrets

Time went on, nothing changing much. Draco had managed to make the Quidditch team, being Slytherin's new seeker. He had tried some times to talk to me but I would only ignore him. Lockhart had forgot about the test, additionally, I had destroyed them. Severus and I were on good terms again even if it had taken some time. One evening, Harry, Hermione, Ron and I were walking back from the Hallowe'en feast. Suddenly, Harry heard that voice. It was speaking about killing and ripping apart something. I checked the corridors for any sign of wizardry with my magic.

"Harry there is nothing or no one her." I tried to calm him down as he started walking slowly in one direction.

"No, there is! I can hear it." He said turning around and watching us. Hermione and Ron were looking at him with horrified expressions, I furrowed my eyebrows. Then Harry watched at the ceiling.

"This way." He shouted and sprinted up a marble staircase. We clattered behind him, trying not to lose him.

"Harry, what are we…"

"Shh." He raised one hand. "It's going to kill someone!" He shouted and ignored us again. When we turned around a corner – completely out of breath – we stopped horrified staring at the wall in front of us. Between two windows was written something with red colour.

"Is this blood?" Hermione asked shocked. Nobody answered her trying to realize what was happening. The words were shining on the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"What's that thing hanging underneath?" said Ron, a slight quiver in his voice. We approached the plushy thing, Harry almost slipping in the large puddle of water on the floor. It was Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat. No one said a word, to shocked of what we saw.

"Let's get out of here!" Ron said. "We don't want to be found here."

Before we could make one step however we heard a rumble. From either end of the corridor where we stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs and crashing into the passage. The chatter died when they saw us and Mrs. Norris. We stood there in the middle, surrounded by shocked faces.

"Enemies of the heir, beware!" Someone shouted from behind us and I knew exactly who it was. In a split second I spun around. Draco had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat. Then he watched us.

"You'll be next Mudbloods!" I looked at him gloomy and he returned my gaze grinning maliciously.

"You damn bastard Draco Malfoy!" I screamed and started going towards him. Before I could reach him however I was stopped by a shrieking Argus Filch.

"My cat! You have murdered my cat!" He screeched pointing at Harry who had the bad luck standing the closest to Mrs. Norris.

"Argus!" Dumbledore interfered who was followed by a number of teachers. Whilst Dumbledore tried to calm him down Severus scanned the students. He quickly saw my situation with Draco and stepped in front of him looking at me warningly. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Professor McGonagall staring at us for his reaction. I glared at Severus but before I could do or say something Professor Dumbledore spoke to us.

"Come with me, Argus. You too, Mr. Potter, Ms. Jackson, Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley." Lockhart offered his office as it was the nearest. When we arrived there Dumbledore inspected Mrs. Norris closely with Lockhart commenting. I felt so angry! Draco had gone to far with his comment and additionally Lockhart was going on my nerves with his stupid behavior. I hated him and I could feel that Severus was on the edge of exploding. He stood in shadow, wearing a most peculiar expression. Besides, I could sense something dark coming from the stiff cat. It remembered me of my father or better his dark wizardry. Mrs. Norris had been petrified and Filch blamed Harry for it even though Dumbledore tried to calm him down a second time.

"I never touched Mrs. Norris." Harry said loudly. Everybody was watching him, even the portraits of Lockhart. I, however, couldn't take my gaze of Mrs. Norris, trying to find out why I thought of my father looking at her.

I was snapped out of my thought when Severus spoke. "If I might speak, Headmaster," he said out of the shadow and I could see Harry flinch. "Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place the wrong time." He said, a slight sneer curling his mouth to hide the fact that he wanted me out of trouble. "Question is why were they in the upstairs corridor at all?" His eyes were glittering in the candle light as he pierced me with his gaze. Harry stuttered.

"We weren't hungry so we left the feast." Ron lied as his stomach gave a huge rumble. I was the only one who could see Severus' smile and bit my lip not to start grinning. As I watched the teachers again I could see Professor McGonagall looking between me and Severus with pinched eyebrows before turning her attention back to Dumbledore.

"We will be able to cure her, Argus." He said patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made which will revive Mrs. Norris."

"I'll make it!" Lockhart butted in. I snorted earning a warning look from Professor McGonagall.

"Excuse me," said Severus icily "but I believe I am the Potions master at this school." I couldn't suppress a grin as there was a very awkward pause, earning another look from McGonagall. Sadly, Dumbledore told us to leave. I would have loved to see how Severus took Lockhart down. On our way to the Gryffindor tower I couldn't stop grinning whilst Harry, Hermione and Ron were discussing the Chamber of Secrets.

"Arya what are you thinking? You didn't stop grinning since we got out of there." Harry asked smiling slightly.

"Oh I loved that scene in there." I said laughing now earning only questioning looks from my friends. "Well, okay that with Mrs. Norris isn't funny and I have the bad feeling that it has to do with my father but it was hilarious how Snape attacked Lockhart. Haven't you seen his face?" I laughed hearty. The others were only raising their eyebrows, not really understanding how I could laugh after this serious situation.

"Come on guys, I understand your depression but that was just more than funny. I love him for how he can push Lockhart around."

"Well you definitely are for 1% Slytherin if you can laugh because of Snape being Snape." Ron mumbled making Hermione and Harry snicker but I only laughed louder.

The next days, no one would talk about anything else. Ginny was surprisingly very disturbed by the recent events even if Georg and Fred were trying to cheer her up. According to Ron, she was a great cat-lover. It had an effect on Hermione as well. She did nothing else except reading, annoying me to death because I couldn't talk to her properly anymore. She wanted to find something about the Chamber of Secrets. I helped her as much as I could but also tried it in another way. I went to Severus several times and interrogated him. Irritatingly, he wouldn't tell me anything even if I could sense that he knew something. One day, we went to Transfigurations, meeting a very severe looking Professor McGonagall. We started the lesson and as always Hermione pulled up her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets." She said in a clear voice. Suddenly, everybody was paying attention and watching Professor McGonagall eagerly. Even Draco was looking at her pinching his eyebrows. Professor McGonagall watched us and took a deep breath.

"As you all know, of course, Hogwarts was founded by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Three of the coexisted quite harmoniously, one did not." She was walking around the room slowly whilst telling. "Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective over the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed magical learning should be kept within all magic families." I couldn't prevent myself from snorting making the class looking at me.

"Sorry." I said. "I just think that's the most stupid thing to say. Aside from the fact that it's not true magic what they were doing or what everybody is doing with a wand." I could feel Hermione pounding me with her elbow. I looked up to Professor McGonagall who was watching me shaking slightly her head. "I'm sorry for interrupting Professor." I gazed on the table in front of me.

"Well, as I said, Salazar Slytherin thought magical learning should be kept within all magic families. In other words, purebloods." Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Draco and Blaze exchanging dark looks. Then Hermione looked at them. By turning my head in their direction I wanted to prevent them from doing or saying something stupid. When they realized that I was looking too they grinned provocative. Before I could say something again Professor McGonagall continued.

"Unable to sway the others he decided to leave the school. Now, according to legend Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. And shortly before departing he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to this school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber and unleash the horror within and by so doing purge the school of all those who – in Slytherin's view- were unworthy to study magic."

"Muggleborns." Hermione said.

"Exactly. Well, naturally the school has been searched many times. No such chamber has been found."

"Professor, what exactly does legend tell us lies within the chamber?" Hermione asked.

"The Chamber, is said, to be home to something that only the heir of Slytherin can control. It is said to be the home of a monster." The class was speechless when Professor McGonagall finished speaking. Ron, his face horrified, turned around to Draco - who couldn't resist another chance to provoke me -only grinned at him coldly.

For the rest of the lesson I was deep in thought. The Chamber was the result of Salazar Slytherin and he had an heir who had opened the Chamber today. That meant that a very strong Slytherin was in Hogwarts right now. I thought about Mrs. Norris who had remind me of my father. It can't be my father, I thought. He is dead!

On our way to dinner we spoke about what McGonagall had told us.

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old looney." Ron told us whilst we fought our way through the teeming corridors. As we were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevey went past.

"Hey Harry! Harry – Harry, a boy in my class has been saying you're-" But Colin was so small that he couldn't fight against the tide of people.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect." Said Harry.

"Yeah right." I claimed. "If anyone should be designated as Slytherin's heir then it's me. To be honest, I don't envy you Harry. I guess the rumor will spread quickly in this school."

Continuing our way, we suddenly found ourselves in a deserted corridor. Strangely, spiders were climbing out of the window and vanishing in the dark of the night. Back in the Gryffindor tower we sat in a corner, away from the others. We spoke about the heir again.

"Who can it be though?" Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Well, let's see." Ron said looking around the room. "Who do we know who thinks that Muggleborns are scum?" I knew exactly where he was going with this.

"If you think it's Malfoy then you're definitely on the wrong path." I commented leaning back in my chair.

"Of course I do. You heard what he said. I mean you almost punched him Arya, I saw you back there. You've got the bad feeling that he has something to do with it right?" He said convinced.

Hermione remained skeptical. "Well, it makes sense." Harry said. "Look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin. And they are evil enough."

"Evil enough yes but not strong enough." I interfered. "We are talking about Salazar Slytherin; a very powerful wizard. He would never have an heir that's not strong enough."

"Do you have another proposal?" Ron leaned forwards.

"I've thought about it the whole evening and the only person I can think of is my father. Riddle is definitely strong enough and worth being chosen by Salazar Slytherin." I said watching the pouring rain outside.

"Yes but he is dead Aryanna." Hermione tried to reassure me. I turned and watched her in the eyes.

"He is not dead. I can feel him. One day he will come back." Absentminded, I touched my left arm. "I need to tell you something. When Dumbledore inspected Mrs. Norris I could feel something dark in the room. It was coming from her. I'm sure it has to do with my father." I said helplessly. My friends were speechless.

"Well," Hermione spoke slowly, dropping her voice further across the room at Percy. "There is a way to find out if Malfoy or his family has something to do with it. Of course it would be very dangerous and difficult. Besides, we would be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect."

Hermione told us about her plan to use Polyjuice Potion. For this, we needed a book from the Restricted Section and special ingredients which we would only get out of Severus' private store. That would be difficult.