raised by dementor

chapter 29

Filch, it had to be him who found them in a flooded corridor with his cat hanging upside down next to a message written in blood. It just had to be him
"I second the motion that this is not going to end well," Luna interjected with the slight trace of a smile as Filch saw Mrs Norris. Then like something out of a movie scene his face fell and he ran towards his cat with a speed that far defied his age, he hugged the frozen cat and sniffed loudly as he clutched the only constant in his life.
"I think we should go," Draco suggested slowly edging away from the scene hoping they could remain undetected, however once again his idea fell down when Filch turned round with a furious expression in his eyes.
"You murdered my cat!" he spat glaring at Harry who was closest, his finger now hovered a few inches from Harry's nose
"YOU!" He growled and moved to grab Harry but was instead met by six wands all pointed at him
"Try it," Cho suggested as the group adopted a defensive position against the man, he may be a squib but they were not going to have him attacking any member of the group. Filch for his part looked torn but before he could make any decision as to what he was going to do an elderly voice filled the room
"Put those away," Albus Dumbledore demanded as he strolled down the corridor along with what looked like a hundred students and every head of year, Harry considered for a moment and nodded for his friends to lower their wands; they did but cast Filch a threatening glare.
"Now what is going on here?" Dumbledore asked as Lockhart swooped into the scene, Harry just sighed wondering how this was going to get any worse. The man pranced over the water and scowled in distaste as his designer shoes touched the water, however he managed to cast aside whatever he was feeling and instead turned to Mrs Norris.
"Ahh yes, the Transmogrifian Torture curse, a shame I wasn't here earlier I know just the counter curse which could have saved her," he announced mournfully shaking his head before turning to Filch who paled. The students behind including Ron Weasley were suddenly fixated on the group
"He did it! He's the murderer" Ron accused suddenly seeing a chance to further his claims that Harry was dark,
"She's not dead," Luna interjected suddenly and all eyes were on here,
"Mrs Lovegood of course she is, look at..." Lockhart announced flamboyantly hoping to impress the crowd with a show of intelligence. Luna for her part ignored him and walked over to the cat, Luna instead put her hand on Mrs Norris (Filch moved to say something but decided against it)
"Did no one check for a heartbeat? She's petrified and breathing, did no one think of that really? I mean no offence you really can't live without your heart beating," she asked aloud, Lockhart suddenly looked awkward and Harry smiled at Luna who didn't think anything of what she had done.
"Yes I agree with Miss Lovegood, she is petrified not dead." Dumbledore confirmed and Harry avoided his gaze. The man was obviously up to something and once again it seemed Harry needed to find out what
"What does it matter?" Filch suddenly barked with hateful eyes turned on Harry, "My cat has been petrified; I want to see some punishment,"
"Um we didn't do it," Draco pointed out realising they had no evidence, Filch glared at him next but Snape interrupted before the caretaker could respond.
"He has a point Argus, we don't know what happened here and unless you some evidence it would be advisable to voice your ideas somewhere else," he hissed coolly moving through the air like a bat as he rushed to soothe the scene.
"That doesn't mean you don't need to explain what you are doing here," Snape pointed out looking towards the group who shrugged; how did they explain Harry was hearing voices or they had followed him without thinking.
"We..." Harry began
"Decided to take a detour, we wanted to show Luna more of the castle and we found this," Hermione finished coming up with the answer on the spot, Harry nodded in agreement. Snape frowned for a moment not believing them but his instincts were telling him these seven were not responsible so instead he turned back to Dumbledore who looked slightly irritated. Everyone else was supposed to suspect Harry so the boy would turn to him when Dumbledore was the only one protesting his innocence.
"There is a cure," Sprout suddenly announced stepping forward "There is a potion made from Mandrake roots and we already have a number of baby Mandrakes, all we need to do is wait until they are fully grown and then we can cure her."
"Of course I was just about to suggest the same thing," Lockhart beamed; he didn't notice the scowl Sprout gave him of course. Filch looked from left to right and realised he had no supporters
"Fine, but I want to know who did this," he sulked before storming off.
"Well if you don't mind we need to be going," Draco suddenly announced tugging Harry's sleeve slightly with a look that said we need to talk now!
"Yes we have homework and stuff," Harry confirmed.
"Yeah stuff," Crabbe and Goyle nodded seeing Draco wanted to talk but not knowing what else to say, Dumbledore studied them for a moment.
"I see no reason to keep you here but I warn you, be cautious, we should all be cautious this year," he told them sternly and with that he was gone.
"He knows way more than he's letting on," Cho worked out
"Well done, this year's Nobel Prize goes to Cho Chang for stating what we're all thinking," Draco remarked; Cho punched him quite quickly after that.
"Oww!" he murmured suddenly leading them down the corridor and back towards the Grand Staircase but instead of entering the actual staircase he took a left and ducked behind a tapestry. It was one of the passages the group would us
"So what is it? "Hermione asked as she too entered the alcove, she seemed puzzled about what he wanted. Draco waited a few moments until everyone was in the passage
"The Chamber of Secrets," he announced reminding them of the message inscribed on the wall.
"You know what it is?" Harry asked, Draco nodded darkly and for some reason Harry got the idea that the Chamber was not a good thing, if the blood on the wall didn't already tell him that.
"Well," Cho asked knowing Draco was pausing for dramatic tension.
"Well first I need to go back a thousand years or so, back then the four founders Godric, Rowena, Helga and Salazar had founded the school and were arguing on one key issue. Muggleborns, now in those days his concerns were justified as you know back then the church were burning and killing witches and wizards," Draco began trying to word his answers so he would not offend Hermione
"Yes we get it; Salazar was justified in some things," Hermione answered knowing he was doing it for her benefit. Draco nodded
"Ok anyway after a number of incidents Salazar left Hogwarts and built a chamber, a chamber underneath the school which was called,
"The chamber of secrets," Cho finished and Draco beamed at her. He moved to clap sarcastically but her ice cold glare made him decide to move on with the story.
"No one knows why he built this chamber, and no one can ask him so many people speculated and searched for the chamber but it was never found. Never, and some say it was just a legend but apparently Salazar made the chamber so only his true heir could enter it. The heir of Slytherin," Draco finished darkly. For a few moments there was silence
"So you think..." Hermione asked
"The chamber has been opened," Draco confirmed and Harry thought about this for a moment.
"You left out the whole monster in the chamber," Luna pointed out suddenly. She had most likely heard this story from her dad or any of the strange books or magazines she read.
"Oh yeah and apparently there is a monster in the chamber," Draco continued nodding to Luna who smiled dreamily.
"A woozle?" she suggested suddenly, Hermione looked ready to burst a blood vessel but Harry stopped her saying anything.
"Maybe not a woozle Luna but something, if its real and to be honest I have a dark feeling it might be," Harry told her.
"You heard a voice and it took your right to the scene," Hermione pointed out.
"I know, something very dark is going on here and I don't think we've seen the end of it,"
"So let me guess, last year we spent the entire time trying to protect a secret chamber in the school and now we're going to spend this year finding one?" Goyle asked suddenly
"And then we're going to go into it and stop whatever's in it?" Crabbe finished. Draco suddenly broke into a wide smile
"See these two get it," he announced.
"One sec, we're missing something here. Dumbledore obviously knew about the chamber but he has never mentioned it. I have never heard of him organising a search of the school or even warning anyone about the possibility so why is this happening now. It's a bit convenient since last year we had Quirrel to deal with and now we have this," Cho wondered suddenly
"What a school newsletter that would be, Dear Parents as a note there may be a giant monster in our school that could kill your children." Draco laughed.
"She's got a point," Harry nodded, surely if a monster had been living in the castle this whole time it would have been noticed or at the very least steps should have been taken just in case it attacked.
"Maybe he's behind it," Luna suggested suddenly. Harry shook his head
"No, I don't think he's opened it or attacked anyone but he is involved in something, something that I have feeling revolves around us," Harry sighed.
"Maybe not us Harry, but you. All these things we're in because of you, without you none of us would have gotten involved last year would we?" Cho pointed out.
"Maybe, Maybe not but let's for now focus on something else. This could have just been a prank or some kind, Maybe we're over reacting, only time will tell," Harry decided.
"Or we could try a more direct approach," Luna suddenly suggested, the group turned on her suddenly with no idea what she was on about.
"Well option one is to wait until someone else is attacked but option two is something a bit more risky, something that could get us expelled," she continued.
"Luna what are you getting at?" Harry wondered slightly confused.
"Well in the muggle world when the police suspect someone they search their house, and if we think Dumbledore's involved them..." Luna trailed off knowing the rest of them would work it out soon enough.
"You think we should burgle his office," Cho summarised and Luna nodded
"We can find out what he knows, I mean he's got to keep files and things hasn't he," Luna pointed out.
"Or he catches us and we're thrown out of here so quickly our asses don't touch the floor," Draco warned knowing this was a risky train of thought.
"Maybe it's not such a bad idea," Harry murmured, he knew Dumbledore had been up to something from the very beginning and perhaps this could provide some answers not just about what was going on but what had always been going on. Something dark had always been going on around him and Dumbledore was the centre of the web
"Oh why not, at least if we get caught we won't get eaten by a monster," Draco decided aloud and with those words they all knew that their next adventure had just begun.