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BAD OMENS
008. THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
the chamber of secrets, year three
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OCTOBER arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pomfrey was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students. Her Pepperup Potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Helena, who had been sneezing non-stop, was bullied into taking some by Lucy.
And to celebrate Halloween season, the five of them got into detention, again.
This time, in Lucy's opinion, was completely undeserved.
At Potion's class, they had accidentally plastered frog brains all over the ceiling. Snape — who had been warned to stop giving detentions because of mistakes in his class — growled at them, gave a twenty-minute long lecture on how stupid they were, and took ten points out of Gryffindor for "lack of concentration."
The real trouble came when Filch got into the dungeon to clean it. He had been in a bad mood — he got the flu or something — and when he saw the mess, he demanded that Snape tell him who was responsible for it.
Snape, looking happier than ever, pointed at them.
Filch, who had never hated a student more than he hated Fred, George, and Lucy, dragged them to his office.
When asked, Lucy said that her proudest achievement in Hogwarts was exceptional grades in Transfiguration and Charms, but truly, the achievement that made her the proudest was the drawer she and the twins had conquered in Filch's office. He had wooden filing cabinets standing around the walls where he kept details of every pupil he had ever punished — and they had an entire drawer all to themselves. Their new goal was to conquer another full drawer before they graduated.
Mary and Helena, who were less frequent flyers than the three of them, looked around his office in curiosity. Their eyes landed on a highly polished collection of chains and manacles hung on the wall behind Filch's desk. It was common knowledge that he was always begging Dumbledore to let him suspend students by their ankles from the ceiling.
Filch grabbed a quill from a pot on his desk and began shuffling around looking for parchment, looking rather content at the chance of punishing them again.
What he didn't know, however, was that Peeves was in debt with Fred and George. The boys had taken the fault for a prank so that the poltergeist wouldn't be punished by the Bloody Baron. And to their luck, Peeves had seen the five of them get dragged to detention.
