Dark Magic

The Chamber of Secrets

"So, I hear you're joining the team..." A presence took a seat beside me in The Great Hall at dinner and as I turned, I found myself greeted none other than Draco Malfoy. Nodding, I took a sip of my pumpkin juice, "You heard right." I confirmed.

He nodded, a smirk appearing through his lips, "Well, I'm their new seeker. Looks like we'll be up against your brother, Potter. He's the seeker for Gryffindor." He spoke distastefully. I furrowed my eyebrows at his remark, "You and my brother don't like each other, do you?"

Malfoy scoffed, glancing back at the Gryffindor table, no doubt, glaring at my brother. As I turned, however, I found he was not sitting in his usual place with Hermione and Ron. He was missing.

"He's an embarrassment to the Wizarding World - he hangs out with Blood Traitors and Mudbloods." I shrugged away his statement, feeling a little angered at his comment about my brother, even if I did not truly understand what his words meant.

"Well, he can't be that bad, everyone else at the school seems to like him. If you'll excuse me, Malfoy, I'm heading to the library to brush up on some Quidditch lore." I stood up from the table, grabbing my bag and leaving before he had the chance to protest.

Something did not sit right with me about Draco Malfoy. He was stuck up and ignorant, but I would not let him talk badly about my brother again. At least, not until, I get to know him for myself. 

I headed for the library and grabbed some books to take back to my dorm that night, but it was only as I was making my way back through the corridors and in the direction of the dungeons that I found the most disturbing noises emitting from one of the halls. At first, it sounded far away, and as I pressed my head against the corridor wall, it grew slightly nearer. 

"Blood." It spoke sinisterly. "I smell blood."

I gasped, beginning to follow it. It grew closer and closer and I continued down the hallway, dropping my books to the ground. Closer. Closer. 

"Let me kill you."

"Let me kill you."

"KILL!"

I fled, as fast as I could down the corridor as water began to flood the floors. Rounding the corner, I found writing on the wall, in the reflection of the water emitting from the girl's lavatory. It was in blood...

'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir...Beware.'

Footsteps emitted from the other end of the corridor, and I found Hermione, Ron and Harry making their way towards the writing. Harry's eyes widened as they met mine, "Did you hear it? The voice?" 

I gulped, glancing back towards the wall and nodding nervously. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by crowd filled with students who had left dinner later than the rest of us. But in the corner of my eye, I found something hanging from the wall by the writing. 

"It's Filch's cat; Mrs Norris!" Harry gasped, along with everybody else in the crowd. She looked...Dead.

"Enemies of the heir beware?" Draco Malfoy spat as he stood at the front of the crowd, before averting his gaze towards the trio beside me. He glared at Hermione, "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

The Professors all appeared at the front of the crowds, looking as frightened as the rest of the students.

"Everyone, proceed to their dormitories immediately!" Professor Dumbledore instructed, to which I obliged without haste.

"Everyone except..." He paused, as I turned to face him pointing towards me, "You four."

I bit my lip, knowing it was too good to be true, that I might stay out of trouble- even in a magical school. The hallway cleared, and I debated running for a moment.

"She killed Mrs Norris!" Filch cried, pointing towards me as he tried his best to blame the first person he could in the corridor. "You saw what she wrote on the wall!" He spat, glaring daggers in my direction.

I gasped, shocked at his accusation, "It wasn't me!" I protested, standing my ground. Professor Dumbledore shook his head dismissively. "She is not dead, Argus. It appears, she has been petrified."

"If I might, headmaster...Perhaps Miss Potter and her friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." Professor Snape sighed, his sympathetic glance meeting mine. I felt a rush of relief that somebody believed me.

"Although, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, do not recall seeing Mr Potter at dinner." He spat accusingly towards me brother. Before he had the chance to defend himself, however, Mr Lockhart interjected.

"Actually, that's my fault, Professor Snape. You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail." He spoke simply.

Hermione and Ron both exchanged a worried glance at myself and Harry, before she began to speak. "That's why Ron and I went looking for him, Professor. We just found Emerald and Harry when they said-" She cut herself short, as I found myself shaking my head towards her in protest. Something the teachers did not need to know, was that my brother and I were hearing voices.

Snape raised an eyebrow, "Yes, Miss Granger?"

I interrupted before Hermione had a chance to answer, "When we said we were feeling tired." Snape's eyes met mine, inquisitively.

"You see, Professor, I went to the library to get some books about Quidditch. Harry saw me in there and asked if I wanted help but we were both so tired we decided to leave it for tonight." I shrugged, hating lying to anybody, let alone the one teacher that had truly been kind to me. 

The Potions Master looked concerned, to say the least. "Very well, Miss Potter." I could tell, from the look in his eyes, he did not believe me for a single moment.

"I advise that you all return to your houses and proceed with great caution, indeed." Professor Dumbledore instructed. The four of us nodded, before dispersing our separate ways. The teachers followed in suit, but I headed back the way I came to retrieve the books I had dropped in the corridor.

"And where are you off to Miss Potter?"

I turned abruptly to find Professor Snape, seemingly unimpressed. "The Slytherin common rooms are that way." He spoke sternly, pointing towards the corridor behind him.

"Yes, Professor. My mistake." I sighed, crossing paths with him and following his instructions.

"Unless, of course, you was lying to me?" He accused, once again forcing me to face him in the hallway. I shook my head, chewing the side of my mouth almost as a way of punishing myself for lying. "I wasn't lying." I spoke, barely above a whisper.

He took a few steps forth, closing the gap between us as his eyes narrowed towards me, "You know, I could always tell when your mother was lying; she would bite the side of her lip." I tried not to fumble at his remark, knowing that I would need to be cruel if I wanted to keep the voices Harry and I had heard a secret.

"You must have known my mother very well, Professor..." I took a step even closer towards him, my gaze piercing into his, "But know this...I am not her." I spat, turning on my heels and continuing with my path to the common room as he requested.

For even in the Wizarding World, hearing voices is not a good sign...