Elizabeth Kane and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 7

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𝕾𝖊𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖒𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝖕𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 October started to roll around. Dad had written me back congratulating me on making Hufflepuff Quidditch team and inquiring what trouble I'd been into. He'd also explained that his job was a simple one, perhaps boring, but he never told me the specifics of what he was doing.

Harry came to Hermione, Ron, and I as we were studying in the Gryffindor common room. While I was not a Gryffindor, I was seen in there so frequently that people tended to forget I wasn't one.

He was dripping with mud, having just come in from a rainy Quidditch practice. He had gone to the showers and had come back to tell us about Nearly Headless Nick inviting him, and us, to his Deathday party.

"A deathday party?" Hermione asked, interested. "I bet there aren't many living people who can say they've been to one of those- it'll be fascinating!"

"Right there with you Hermione." I said, grinning over my fun Muggle book As the Crow Flies. (Not because the book was necessarily a fun book to read or that it was fun, just that I considered books that weren't for school as 'fun' because they weren't serious).

"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?" Ron asked grumpily, working on potions homework. "Sounds dead depressing to me." He glanced up at me, "How do you have time to read that? Aren't you swamped with homework? Even Hermione's not completely done with her homework."

I looked up from my book. Over Ron's shoulder I saw that Fred and George were trying to figure out what happened if you fed a firework to a salamander. Luckily, it was a magical fire-dwelling salamander from Care of Magical Creatures class. I looked upon them, amused, and then answered Ron, "I finished yesterday. And Hermione only has one assignment left anyways."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, the salamander whizzed through the air, emitting loud sparks and bangs, while it whirled wildly around the room. People jumped out of the way, laughing at its antics. It was funny, but I wasn't entirely sure if it was ethical.

However, once Percy started bellowing himself hoarse at Fred and George, I started to laugh. The salamander escaped into the fire and started exploding tangerine colored stars from its mouth, and then the fireworks died down, and the salamander curled up on the fire to sleep. I laughed so hard, tears came into my eyes, and Hermione and I collapsed into more fits of giggles.

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𝕺𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝕳𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖉 to come around however, Harry was starting to regret his promise to go to the deathday party, constantly talking to Ron, Hermione, and I about possibly skipping it. Ron was all for that, but Hermione got very bossy about it saying a promise was a promise. I privately agreed with her. Besides, it was going to be a fascinating experience, even if something very bad was going to happen afterwards.

I told them I'd meet them at the Great Hall at seven. I had ducked into the Great Hall and had packed food into my bag so that we could eat after the party. It would be rude to eat in front of ghosts.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were dressed in everyday wear and were surprised that I was wearing a thick cloak. "It'll be cold in the dungeons." was my defense.

We walked down into the dungeon which was lined with candles. I wondered who had set them out, considering ghosts couldn't move objects. Perhaps peeves, though I doubted he'd do anything nice. There were long, thin, jet-black tapers which burned bright blue. As we got closer to the dungeons, I covered my ears with a start at what sounded like nails on a chalkboard.