Bella and the Chamber (Book Two)

Chapter Twenty Seven

After saying bye to Hagrid, I rushed after Harry as he slumped up the stairs and turned along another corridor, which was really dark; the torches had been put out by a strong, icy draught which was blowing through a loose window pane. 

"Harry, I know you're mad - heck, so am I! I wish I could just pummel them kids to the ground, but there was no need to take it out on Hagrid," I say and grab his arm to stop him from walking. 

"You don't understand, they weren't talking about you. They don't think you're the Slytherin's heir! I just wish we can have one normal year at Hogwarts" He looks down. 

"I'm starting to think that a normal year at Hogwarts just isn't going to happen for us, "I smile softly and pull his head up so he was looking at me. "But hey, no matter what happens, I'll be by your side. And so will Ron and Hermione"

He nods and smiles in thanks, I try to ignore how close our faces were but it was impossible. I could feel his breath and my face and I swear he glanced at my lips. I lick them and notice him leaning closer, and instead of letting him kiss me, I cough awkwardly and move away. He sighs but quickly composes himself like he didn't want me to notice- but I did. 

"Come on, before we get caught out here," I say. 

He nods and carries walking down the corridor. It's not like I didn't want to kiss him, trust me, I did, but I panicked! Plus, I didn't want him to kiss me because it was on the those 'in the moment' things. I want it to mean something. I don't want to be some girl he kisses because he's upset. That's for someone like Ginny. A scowl makes it's way onto my face when I think about Ginny kissing Harry, not going to happen bitch!

We walked down the corridor in silence, and just as I was about to say something, Harry tripped headlong over something lying on the floor. 

"Harry!" I rush to his side, "are you alright?"

He nods. "Yeah, I think. What did I fall over?"

I turned to squint at what Harry had fallen over, and I felt as though my stomach had dissolved into a puddle of green goo.

Justin Finch-Fletchly (just our luck!) was lying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. But, unfortunately, that wasn't all. A whimper escaped my lips as I looked at the other figure, and even though it was a strange sight, I felt upset for him.

Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost was no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor. His head was half off and his face wore an expression like Justin's. 

"Oh. My. God." I gasp out. "What happened?"

Harry quickly got to his feet. I was breathing hard and fast, my heart doing a kind of drum show against my ribs. Harry looked wildly up and down the empty corridor and focused on something. I followed his gaze and noticed a load of spiders running away from the bodies as fast as they could. My breathing quickened at the sight of them. 

"Damn spiders," I mumble, looking away before I have a panic attack.

We had to do something. We could run, that way no one would ever know we were here and Harry wouldn't get the blame. Classes were still going on around us so we had that advantage. 

"Come on, we need to go!" I whisper and grab his hand. 

"Bella, we can't just leave them there!" He whispers back. 

Damn. He has a point. "What do you suppose we do then?"

People would not believe that Harry was innocent. 

As we stood there panicking, a door right next to us opened with a bang making me jump. Peeves, the school poltergeist came shooting out. 

"Why, it's potty wee Potter and his ickle girlfriend!" Peeves cackled, knocking Harry's glasses askew as he bounced past us and I blushed. "What's Potter and his girlfriend up to? Why you lurking-"

Peeves stopped, halfway through a mid-air somersault. I held my breath. Upside down, he spotted Justin and Nick. He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs, and before either me or Harry could stop him, screamed, "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATAAAACK!"

Crash - crash- crash: door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out. For several long minutes, there was a scene of confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed and people kept standing in Nick. I found myself, along with Harry, pinned against the wall as the teachers shouted for quiet. Professor McGonagall came running, followed by her own class, one of whom still had black and white striped hair. She used her wand to set off a loud bang, which made everyone go silent, and ordered everyone back into the classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat than Ernie the Hufflepuff arrived, panting, on the scene. I groaned. Not him. 

"Caught in the act!" Ernie yelled, his face pale white, pointing a finger at Harry. 

"That will do, Macmillan!" Professor McGonagall said sharply. 

Peeves was bobbling overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene; Peeves always loved chaos. As the teachers bent over Justin and Nick, examining them, Peeves broke into a song:

"Oh Potter, you rotter, oh what have you done? 

You're killing off students, you think it's good fun-"

"That's enough Peeves!" Professor McGonagall barked, and Peeves zoomed away backwards, with his tongue out at Harry.

Justin was carried up to the Hospital Wing by Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy Department, but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nick. In the end, McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nick up the stairs. This Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft. This left me, Harry, and Professor McGonagall alone together. 

"This way, Potter. You too Swan," she said. 

"Professor," I said at once. "I swear, Harry didn't-"

"This is out of my hands, Swan," McGonagall said curtly.

We marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle. 

"Sherbet lemon!" she said. The was obviously a password because the gargoyle suddenly came alive, and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. I grabbed Harry's hand. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase which was moving smoothly upwards, like an escalator. As we stepped onto it, I heard the wall thud closed behind us. We rose upwards in circles, higher and higher, until, at last, (and very dizzy), I could see a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffon.

I knew where we were. This is where Dumbledore lived. 

Crap.