Dawn Rivera

The Duelling Club

Someone opens the door. Shoot. Our voices must echo round the bathroom from our locked cubicle.

"It's me," says a familiar voice. Harry! I hear him close the door behind him. There is a chunk, a splash and a gasp from within our cubicle and me and Hermione peer our eyes through the keyhole.

"Harry!" I say. "You gave us such a fright. Come in - how's your arm?"

"Fine," says Harry, squeezing into our cubicle. An old cauldron is perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim is evidence that our fire is still going strong. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires is a speciality of mine and Hermione's.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explains, as Harry, with difficulty, locks the cubicle again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."

Harry starts to tell us about Colin, but Hermione interrupts. "We already know, 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," snarls Ron. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin."

I try not to look too guilty. I'm not totally down with this plan. Actually, I really don't want to do it anymore.

"There's something else," says Harry, watching Hermione and me tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night."

Ron, Hermione and me look up, amazed. Harry tells us everything Dobby told him - or didn't tell him. Ron, Hermione and me listen with our mouths open.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been open before?" I say.

"This settles it," says Ron in a triumphant voice. "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 nobody's noticed it sneaking round the school."

"Maybe it can make itself invisible," says Hermione, me and her prodding the leeches to the bottom of the cauldron. "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, and you, Dawn," says Ron, pouring dead lacewings on top of the leeches. He crumples up the empty lacewing bag and looks round at Harry.

"So Dobby stopped us getting on the train and broke your arm..." He shakes his head. "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life he's going to kill you."

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The news that Colin Creevey has been attacked and is now lying as though dead in the hospital wing has spread through the entire school by Monday morning. The air is suddenly thick with rumour and suspicion. The first-years are now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they will be attacked if they venture forth alone.

Ginny and Misty Weasley, who sit next to Colin Creevey in Charms, are distraught, but I feel that Fred and George are going the wrong way about cheering her up. They are taking it in turns to cover themselves with fur or boils and jump out at her from behind statues. They only stop when Percy, apoplectic with rage, tells them he is going to write to Mrs Weasley and tell her Ginny is having nightmares.

Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, a roaring trade in talismans, amulets and other protective devices is sweeping the school. Neville Longbottom buys a large, evil-smelling green onion, a pointed purple crystal and a rotting newt-tail before the other Gryffindor boys point out that he is in no danger: he is a pure-blood, and therefore unlikely to be attacked.