Hermione Granger and the Chamber of Secrets (Completed)

Chapter 10 - The Duelling Club

Hermione and Ron passed the student potions cupboard on the way and, checking quickly to see if they were being watched, opened the door and walked in

It was very dark inside the huge cupboard when they shut the door, and there wasn't any visible source of light
"Lumos" Hermione whispered, and a ball of light glowed on the end of her wand. She raised her wand over the many cups and vials until she found the ones labelled Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed and knotgrass. She quickly took the four small boxes and stuffed them in her pocket
"We need a cauldron" said Ron. Hermione scanned the floor before noticing a small rusty cauldron in the corner. She pointed her wand at it
"Diminuendo" she whispered. The cauldron shrank until it was small enough to fit in Hermione's bag
"You're really brilliant sometimes, you know that?" said Ron. Flushed with pride, Hermione grinned

Soon, they were back in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, locked inside one of the cubicles. They got out all the ingredients and re - enlarged the cauldron. Hermione conjured some blue fire on top of the closed toilet and placed the cauldron on top of it. Her and Ron were just about to get started when they heard the door open
“It’s me” came Harry's voice. Hermione jumped and dropped one of the boxes into the cauldron. She quickly took it out before looking out of the keyhole to see that it was, indeed, Harry

“Harry!” she gasped “You gave us such a fright — come in — how’s your arm?”
“Fine” said Harry, squeezing into the cubicle add shutting the door behind him
“We’d’ve come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion” Ron explained “We’ve decided this is the safest place to hide it”
"I don't know if you've heard" said Harry "but Colin Creevey's been--"
“We already know" interrupted Hermione "we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning. That’s why we decided we’d better get going —”
“The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better” growled Ron “D’you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin"
As Ron and Harry talked, Hermione started ripping up knotgrass and putting them in the bubbling cauldron

“There’s something else” said Harry “Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night”
"What?" exclaimed Hermione, pouring leeches into the mixture as well
"Yes" Harry said, sighing "it was him who bewitched the bludger, not Malfoy. And it was him who closed the barrier to the train early" - Ron looked appalled - "Oh, and there's another thing. He said the Chamber of Secrets had been opened before, but he couldn't say why. He disappeared before he could say anything else"
Ron and Hermione both had their mouths wide open
“The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?” Hermione exclaimed
“This settles it” said Ron “Lucius Malfoy must’ve opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he’s told dear old Draco how to do it. It’s obvious. Wish Dobby’d told you what kind of monster’s in there, though. I want to know how come nobody’s noticed it sneaking around the school”
“Maybe it can make itself invisible,” said Hermione thoughtfully “Or maybe it can disguise itself — pretend to be a suit of armour or something — I’ve read about Chameleon Ghouls —”
“You read too much, Hermione” said Ron. He poured a bag of lacewings into the cauldron before turning to Harry
“So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm...” he said miserably "You know what, Harry? If he doesn’t stop trying to save your life he’s going to kill you”

***

Christmas was nearly upon them. Hermione, Ron and Harry all singed up to stay for Christmas, as they thought it would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion. Draco Malfoy was also staying, which they thought was very odd

Unfortunately, the potion was only half finished, and the last part required ingredients from Snape's private store cupboard, which didn't please any of them. They came up with a plan several days before their next potions lesson
“What we need,” said Hermione briskly “is a diversion. Then one of us can sneak into Snape’s office and take what we need”
“I think I’d better do the actual stealing” she said, trying not to sound too worried “You two will be expelled if you get into any more trouble, and I’ve got a clean record. So all you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so”
Harry tried to smile, but it was more like a grimace