PHANTOM FIGURES | harry potter

18. the chamber of secrets

     "All those time we were in that toilet, and she was just three stalls away," said Ron bitterly at breakfast the next day, "and we could've asked her, and now..."

     It had been hard enough to look for the spiders. Escaping their teachers long enough to sneak into a loo, a girls' one with two boys, moreover, right next to the scene of the first attack, was going to be almost impossible.

     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?"

     "The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you all are studying hard."

     Studying hard? The thought of studying hadn't even crossed Aspen's mind practically the whole year, she had been too busy worrying about the Heir of Slytherin! She exchanged shocked looks with Jasmine. There was a great deal of mutinous muttering around the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl darkly.

     "Professor Dumbledore instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible," she said. "And that, I need hardly to point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year."

     Aspen looked down at the pair of white rabbits she was supposed to be turning into slippers. What had she learned so far this year? All she could recall was turning a beetle into a button and Mandrakes can revive organisms from their petrified states; but she didn't know if those two would be helpful in an exam.

     Harry seemed appalled, Ron looked as though he was told to walk into the Forbidden Forest again.

     He held up his broken wand that just started whistling loudly. "Can you imagine me taking exams with this?"

     Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast.

     Aspen looked up from her book to listen. She had been cramming all of the second year curriculum in the past few days, trying to memorise everything so she can move onto the next year.

     "I have good news," she said, and the Great Hall, instead of falling silent, erupted.

     "Dumbledore's coming back!" several people yelled gleefully.

     "You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" a first year Ravenclaw squealed.

     "Quidditch matches are back on!" roared Wood 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."

     Aspen had attempted to forget about the Chamber of Secrets and the rest of its problems for the five days (and some nights) she spent studying. This was good news though, she could see Hermione again, who would probably throw a fit when she realised they had exams so quick and she hadn't had enough time to prepare.

     Perhaps the world was ending.

     It seemed like it.