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Aurora Areli
SUMMER WAS CREEPING OVER the grounds around the castle; the sky and lake both turned periwinkle blue and huge flowers burst into bloom in the greenhouses. Without Hagrid visible from the castle windows with Fang at his heels, however, the scene didn't look right to me.
To make matters worse, when Harry, Ron and I tried to visit Hermione, we were told visitors were no longer allowed in the hospital wing.
"We're taking no more chances," Madam Pomfrey told us sternly. "No, I'm sorry, there's every chance the attacker might come back to finish these people off . . ."
With Dumbledore gone, fear spread through the castle faster than ever, so that the sun warming the castle walls outside seemed to stop at the mullioned windows. Barely anybody was happy these days; any laughter that rang through the corridors sounded shrill and unnatural and was quickly stifled.
Harry was always muttering Dumbledore's final words to himself whenever we were in the common room (which was a lot, since we weren't allowed to leave after six pm) to the point where I had them memorized. "I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me . . . Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." I didn't understand what he meant by that. Who were we supposed to ask for help, when everyone around us was just as confused and scared as we were?
Hagrid's hint about the spiders was much easier to understand — the trouble was, there didn't seem to be a single spider left in the castle to follow. Harry and I looked wherever we went, helped by a rather reluctant Ron, but it was difficult because of the curfew and the fact that we weren't allowed to wander off on our own. Instead, we had to move around the castle in a pack with the other Gryffindors, which, unlike them, I found annoying.
One person who did seem to be enjoying the atmosphere of terror and suspicion was Draco Malfoy. He was strutting around the school as though he had just been appointed Head Boy. I didn't understand what he was so pleased about until I overheard him in Potions about two weeks after Dumbledore left.
"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore," he said, not troubling to keep his voice down. "I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst Headmaster the school's ever had. Maybe we'll get a decent Headmaster now. Someone who doesn't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long, she's only filling in . . ."
Snape swept past Harry, Ron and I, making no comment about Hermione's empty seat and cauldron.
"Sir," Malfoy said loudly. "Sir, why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job?"
Snape? Headmaster? Yuck.
"Now, now, Malfoy," Snape said, though he couldn't suppress a thin-lipped smile. "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I dare say he'll be back with us soon enough."
