The Spiteful Sorting Hat

Salazar Slytherin

By the following day, the whole school knew about the writing on the wall. Gossip spread like wildfire among the student body, and before long it was common knowledge that Millicent Bullstrode's cat had been attacked. Some even said that they'd seen Harry Potter leaving Lockhart's office that night. Everyone was curious to know what he had been doing so close to the scene of the crime, but Harry wasn't in the mood to entertain. He kept apart, even from members of his own house, preferring the company of Blaise and Millie over the prying eyes of the other students.

Millie remained depressed and sullen. Harry and Blaise devoted themselves to cheering her up with reminders that Mamon would be cured soon. They thought they were making progress when she finally opened her mouth to speak, but it was only to snap at them for going on, so they let the subject drop.

By some silent agreement, they knew not to speak to anyone of the voice Harry heard that night. They hadn't even mentioned it among themselves, lest someone overhear. Harry knew the teachers would think he was lying, or worse, have him shipped off to St. Mungo's.

In spite of Harry's refusal to answer any questions put to him about the writing on the wall, the school went on buzzing with theories about what the message could mean. Harry asked Blaise again if he'd ever heard of a Chamber of Secrets within the castle, but Blaise only shrugged his shoulders.

"This placed is riddled with secret passages and the like. I'm sure there's more than one hidden chamber in the school. I mean, look at the third floor corridor."

"But that was just to protect the stone," Harry argued. Now that the Philosopher's Stone had been destroyed and the dangers protecting it removed, the formerly forbidden corridor had been reopened for regular use. "This must be chamber no one knows about."

They knew better than to ask Millie, though her parents, both graduates of Hogwarts, might have mentioned something to her if such a legend did exist.

They did not remain in the dark for long. While the other houses struggled to pry information from the professors, the Slytherin students gathered in their common room about a week after the words appeared. Harry, Blaise, and Millie were surprised on arriving back from dinner to see a crowd growing around the Slytherin prefects. The fire was the only light in the dark common room, and someone had dimmed the enchanted flames. With the water of the lake pressing against the windows, painting them black, the room was cast in an eerie, flickering light, illuminating the rapt faces of the Slytherin students. Sensing that something interesting was about to happen, Harry and Blaise selected a pair of armchairs tucked in a shadowy alcove, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Millie apparently wanted nothing to do with the proceedings. Drawing her journal out of her pocket, she made her way silently up the stairs to the girls' dormitory to be left alone.

"It starts with the school," Gemma Farley began, once all the students had settled and the conversation died away, "Long ago, when witches and wizards were looked at with hatred by muggles and faced deadly persecution, four great sorcerers decided to build a school as refuge for young mages."

"You already know their names," interrupted the prefect Harry recognized as Adrian Pucey, a chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team, "They were Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin."

There was a murmur of approval as the last name was announced. Harry squirmed impatiently in his seat. He felt that now he was bound to get some answers.

"They knew it would be dangerous for muggles to find the school, so they built it with strong magic to keep those who weren't welcome far away," Gemma said, continuing as if she hadn't been interrupted, "For a while the four founders lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when Salazar Slytherin attacked."