The Chamber Of Secrets (A Harry Potter Rewrite)

WEAVED WITH WATER

When Ria woke up, she felt like someone had cracked her head open. She groaned and tried to sit up but was stopped short by a high pitched squeak and two hand on her shoulder trying to push her back down. Ria acted on instinct, throwing off the hands and scrambling away, blindly searching her robes for her wand. Her eyes hadn't adjusted to the standing light yet, so she was keeping them closed.

"Miss!", a voice squeaked again. "You must not try to get up yet!"

Ria finally recognised the voice and snapped her eyes open.

"Martha?", she asked bewildered. She look around slowly. She was in a low-ceiling room with bundles upon bundles of mattresses stacked against the walls. Ria figured she was in the elves' quarters. She had apparently been lying on two of their beds put together

When she tried to remember how she might have ended up here, the last bit of fogginess was gone in an instance.

"How did you find me?", Ria asked Martha, not being able to believe her luck. "Where did you find me?!"

"In the washroom, young Miss! Martha was cleaning the kitchen when the wind called. It told Martha young Miss was in trouble. It told Martha to help. So Martha went and it lead her to Miss. Miss was lying on the floor of a blasted cubicle with rubbles all around. Miss seemed to have hurt her head. There was blood! Old Martha was very worried! So she brought Miss here, to Martha's home, and treated her wound. Martha fixed the washroom too!"

Martha stopped in her account and looked at Ria hopefully. She took a moment to sort through the information, then lifted her hand to touch her head. She could feel the bandage.

"Thank you, Martha." Ria said, sending the elf a genuine smile. "You might just have saved my life."

Martha beamed. "Martha is happy to help!'

"What time is it now, Martha?"

"A bit after lunch. Miss must be hungry! Martha can bring Miss food?"

"You found me last night, right?"

Martha nodded. Ria sighed. Hopefully she wasn't too late yet.

"There's no time for food. My friends might be in trouble. I need to go and help them. Do you have anything that could restore my energy super fast?"

Martha looked at her thoughtfully for a minute, then nodded and went out a side door. She returned only a minute later with a bowl full of a green liquid. Ria didn't wait for explanations. She took the bowl and finished it in one gulp blanching at how disgusting it tasted. But she could immediately feel her headache ebbing away and when she stood up her legs held her just fine.

"Thank you so much, Martha. For everything. I have to go now. But I'll be back soon."

"Does miss want Martha to come along?", the elf asked looking slightly worried.

"No", Ria said firmly. "You've already done enough. I'll see you soon."

Martha nodded. Then she guided her out of the room, through the kitchen and back outside. Ria thanked her again, then took off running.

She found Myrtle in the washroom. When she saw Ria she jumped up and rushed to hug her, and obviously passed right through, leaving Ria dizzy for a few seconds. Myrtle didn't seem perturbed in the slightest.

"You're alive!", Myrtle said happily.

"Yeah", Ria mumbled, unnerved by the sudden show of fondness. "Were you able to find them?"

"Yes!", Myrtle said, nodding her head vigorously. "They went down there with the new teacher." she informed pointing behind her, then moved aside.

Ria finally had a chance to look around and promptly gaped at the empty hollow where the sink used to be. In it's place was a pipe, large enough for a man to pass through. She rushed forward and checked inside. It went down and dissolved into darkness.