“All those times we were in that bathroom, and she was just three toilets away,” said Ron bitterly at breakfast next day, “and we could've asked her, and now…”
It had been hard enough trying to look for spiders. Escaping their teachers long enough to sneak into a girls' bathroom, the girls' bathroom, moreover, right next to the scene of the first attack, was going to be almost impossible.
"Got any ideas, Clara?" Harry asked as Clara sat down next to him.
She shook her head. "Unless we break out the cloak again, I have nothing."
Ron slammed his hand down on the table. "Oh, that's just great."
But something happened in their first lesson, Transfiguration, that drove the Chamber of Secrets out of their minds for the first time in weeks. Ten minutes into the class, Professor McGonagall told them that their exams would start on the first of June, one week from today.
“Exams?” howled Seamus Finnigan. “We're still getting exams?”
There was a loud bang behind Harry as Neville Longbottom's wand slipped, vanishing one of the legs on his desk. Professor McGonagall restored it with a wave of her own wand, and turned, frowning, to Seamus.
“The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education,” she said sternly. “The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard.”
Studying hard! It had never occurred to Harry that there would be exams with the castle in this state. There was a great deal of mutinous muttering around the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl even more darkly. “Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible,” she said. “And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year.”
Clara looked down at the pair of white rabbits she was supposed to be turning into slippers. What had she learned so far this year besides how to be even more sneaky than she already was? Other than that, she couldn't seem to think of anything that would be useful in an exam.
“Can you imagine me taking exams with this?” Ron asked Harry and Clara, holding up his wand, which had just started whistling loudly.
Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast.
“I have good news,” she said, and the Great Hall, instead of falling silent, erupted. “Dumbledore's coming back!” Several people yelled joyfully.
“You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!” squealed a girl at the Ravenclaw table. “Quidditch matches are back on!” roared Oliver excitedly.
When the hubbub had subsided, Professor McGonagall said, “Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit.”
There was an explosion of cheering.
Harry and Clara looked over at the Slytherin table and wasn't at all surprised to see that Draco hadn't joined in. Ron, however, was looking happier than he'd looked in days. “It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then!” he said to Harry and Clara. “Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time. She hasn't studied. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over.”
Just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Harry noticed that her hands were twisting in her lap.
“What's up?” said Ron, helping himself to more porridge.
Ginny didn't say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table with a scared look on her face that reminded Clara of someone, though she couldn't think who.
“Spit it out,” said Ron, watching her. Clara suddenly realized who Ginny looked like. She was rocking backward and forward slightly in her chair, exactly like Dobby did when he was teetering on the edge of revealing forbidden information.
“I've got to tell you something,” Ginny mumbled, carefully not looking at Harry or Clara.
“What is it?” said Harry.
Ginny looked as though she couldn't find the right words.
“What?” said Clara.
Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Harry leaned forward and spoke quietly, so that only Clara, Ginny, and Ron could hear him. “Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?”
Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley appeared, looking tired and wan. “If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've only just come off patrol duty.”
Ginny jumped up as though her chair had just been electrified, gave Percy a fleeting, frightened look, and scampered away. Percy sat down and grabbed a mug from the center of the table.
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Mon Cher (Severus Snape Daughter FF)
फैनफिक्शनClara Lily was born almost exactly nine months before Harry. She wasn't born a Potter though. Lily kept her secret until a few nights before she died that her daughter was indeed Severus Snape's. For years, he kept her mother a secret. When she was...
