The New Trio and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 13: Cloak and Dagger

Eventually, it was time to pack their trunks again and return to Platform 9 ¾ for their trip back to Hogwarts again. It was also the day that they'd previously planned to sneak into the Slytherin common room, and the first half of the train journey was understandably tense because of that. However, as Wizarding children are wont to do, the seriousness of the situation was quickly discarded for several Exploding Snap games, followed by the sweet trolley visiting, which was then followed by even more Exploding Snap. However, the mood was brought down by Blaise's entrance halfway through the trip. "Hey guys," he said, with huge bags under his eyes.

"Blaise!" exclaimed Draco, jumping up and leading his friend to a seat. "What's wrong? You look exhausted!"

Blaise sighed and smiled sadly. "My stepfather died from Muggle skin cancer two days after Christmas. He was a half-blood, and the Muggle side of his family had a semi-regular history with cancer, but we all thought that his magical side had strong enough magical cores to counteract Muggle sicknesses and diseases. I really liked this one, and Mother did too. It's just been a really stressful week with trying to arrange the funeral and stuff."

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Hermione. "I'm so sorry, Blaise."

All the others in the compartment did their best to comfort him as much as possible, and although it was obvious that they couldn't do much, you could see it in Blaise's eyes that he still appreciated that his friends were at least trying. When the silence got a bit too oppressive, Blaise asked what they were doing, and when he discovered the game they were playing, he decided it would do him good to have some fun, so he joined in.

When the automated voice announced that they would be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes, that tension that had been present at the beginning of the journey was rediscovered, and seemed to have been multiplied while they weren't paying attention.

Neville swallowed uneasily. "Okay, so let's all go through the plan one more time. Just to be sure."

"Okay," agreed Fred. "George and I prank everyone at dinner tonight, making everyone's hair become mood rings of a sort, and take the blame for it."

"The prank will make it easier for you guys to see if anyone's got dark thoughts, or simply feeling guilty," added George.

"I'll meet you three in the Entrance Hall," said Blaise, "and we'll go straight to the common room, where I'll let you in."

"Colin, Ginny, Neville, and I will make sure to distract the rest of Gryffindor if anyone asks where you three are," said Hermione.

"It's easier for me, since most of the Ravenclaws won't even notice I'm gone," Luna said airily.

"I still wish you'd tell us the names of everyone behind the bullying, Luna," sighed Neville. Luna just shrugged, but when she said nothing, he kept going. "Okay, you'll go through the years from lowest to highest. Blaise, you said there isn't any boy trap thing over the entrance to the girls' entrance, right?"

Blaise nodded. Harry took over. "We do boys first, then backtrack and get through to the girls, where Luna will look into the dorms first to check that they're all decent, then we go in. The prank should work for three hours, so that's our time frame."

"After we're done," finished Draco, "I'll split from you two and visit Severus, and Harry, you escort Luna up to Ravenclaw, and then go back to Gryffindor."

By the time they'd discussed every contingency of the plan, the Express had arrived in Hogsmeade Station, and it was time for them to disembark. "Dobby?" called Draco quietly, and the little elf popped into being before him. "Do you have the potion Fred and George gave you?" he asked.