Harry Potter And The Prince Of Slytherin 156 Chamber Of Secrets Pt.1

"Harry, what're you —?"

"It's that voice again — shut up a minute —"

"…soo hungry…for so long…"

"Listen!" said Harry urgently, and Ron and Hermione froze, watching him."…kill…time to kill…"

The voice was growing fainter. Harry was sure it was moving away — moving upward. A mixture of fear and excitement gripped him as he stared at the dark ceiling; how could it be moving upward? Was it a phantom, to whom stone ceilings didn't matter?

"This way," he shouted, and he began to run, up to the stairs, into the entrance hall. It was no good hoping to hear anything here, the babble of talk from the Halloween feast was echoing out of the Great Hall. Harry sprinted up the marble staircase to the first floor, Ron and Hermione clattering behind him. Draco stood there for a second finally deciding to go with them, 'I have a really bad feeling about this.' he thought to himself.

"Harry, what're we —"

"SHH!"

Harry strained his ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, he heard the voice: "…I smell blood…I SMELL BLOOD!"

His stomach lurched —

"It's going to kill someone!" he shouted, and ignoring Ron's and Hermione's bewildered faces, he ran up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to listen over his own pounding footsteps — Harry hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Ron and Hermione panting behind him, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted pa.s.sage.

"Harry, what was that all about?" said Ron, wiping the sweat off his face. "I couldn't hear anything…"

But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor.

"Look!"

Something was s.h.i.+ning on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, s.h.i.+mmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE

"What's that thing — hanging underneath?" said Ron, a slight quiver in his voice.

As they edged nearer, Harry almost slipped — there was a large puddle of water on the floor; Ron and Hermione grabbed him, and they inched toward the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them realized what it was at once, and leaped backward with a splash. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring. For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Ron said, "Let's get out of here."

"Shouldn't we try and help —" Harry began awkwardly.

"Trust me," said Ron. "We don't want to be found here."

But it was too late. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were cras.h.i.+ng into the pa.s.sage from both ends.

The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the ma.s.s of students pressing forward to see the grisly sight.

Then someone shouted through the quiet.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

It was Flint. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat. Harry who was feeling pity for him was now completely disgusted looking at the sight of Flint who looked hungry for revenge.

"What's going on here? What's going on?"

Attracted no doubt by Flint's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.

And his popping eyes fell on Harry.

"You!" he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll—"

"Move." A demanding voice came from behind him as Filch looked back to see Draco who had just arrived at the scene.

"You! You are involved as well..." He said walking towards Draco.

"Argus!"

Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron, and Hermione and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.

"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger... and you too Mr. Black."

Lockhart who had healed in the past few days stepped forward eagerly.

"My office is nearest, Headmaster — just upstairs — please feel free—"

"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.

The silent crowd parted to let them pa.s.s. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape. Draco who was studying the scene sighed and left nodding at Theodore and the rest as well.

"Couldn't help but get in trouble even on your last day, huh?" Theodore muttered silently.

As they entered Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of movement across the walls; Draco saw several of the Lockharts in the pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers. The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back. Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged tense looks and sank into chairs outside the pool of candlelight, watching.

The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris's fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking.

Professor McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape loomed behind them, half in shadow, wearing a most peculiar expression: It was as though he was trying hard not to smile. And Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her — probably the Transmogrifian Torture — I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her…"

Apparently, after Lockhart losing the battle with Draco, he fell back into his old ways. Though he didn't confront Draco head on, seeing his excited face all around made Draco more and more uncomfortable.

Lockhart's comments were punctuated by Filch's dry, racking sobs. He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris, his face in his hands. Much as he detested Filch, Harry couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him, though not nearly as sorry as he felt for himself If Dumbledore believed Filch, he would be expelled for sure.

Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand but nothing happened. She continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.

"…I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadougou," said Lockhart, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once…"

The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement as he talked. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair net.

"It isn't dead, genius." Draco called out, "I can smell the dark magic from far away. If it was dead, it would reek of death, not dark magic."

Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.

"What do you think about it, Mr. Black?" Dumbledore said with interest in his eyes.

"It's not like you haven't figured it out," Draco said. "It's Petrified."

"What lead you to believe so?" Dumbledore asked.

"The same conclusion as yours..."

"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all — all stiff and frozen?"