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ATHENA STARED AT THE FLICKERING CANDLE IN front of her. The flame was close to going out. She'd lit two of them however one had withstood the other. The flame danced in its waxy coffin, pointed up towards the ceiling.
She watched for another minute before it happened. The flame went out, leaving a swirl of dark smoke pouring out of the top. She breathed in the air and lay back into her seat to allow the darkness to consume her.
It was Halloween. The 31st of October. The day of doom, of death. It's bloody history stretched over centuries branding the holiday with connotations of ghosts and gloom.
However for Athena, the history stretched back to 1981 and no further. The day that Lily and James had died. She watched the two candles, now extinguished, as they settled into the wooden desk below now smaller than they had been before.
Sometimes, Athena forgot that Halloween marked the day that she lost her friends. Occasionally, Athena would just get lost in the holiday. She'd always enjoyed Halloween, the parties, the feasts, the idea of dressing up, of scaring others.
However the thought always plagued her mind. Like her own ghost following her around. As the candles burned she swear she heard whispers in her mind, skating across her brain until she was no longer what was real and what was a lie.
Athena had watched the flames burn for an hour and was now sure that her aroma was full of smoke. However she always burnt the candles. It was giving light in darker times just as they always had.
The feast was in an hour yet this year she was taking the memorial harder than she could admit. Her mind was falling down into the darkness again, slipping like water through her hands and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Ben had been her anchor to stop her from going off the rails but now she felt as though this weight was doing nothing but drag her down into the depths of the ocean.
Athena had enjoyed convincing herself that things were only getting better yet now she was at a dead end with nowhere to go. Her future looked dark, maybe even as dark as her past.
She was stuck in the present, completely fretting about everything happening to her. Athena had no way to go and this had caused her anxieties to take over. How could she ever be ok anymore? Where was the hope? When had she lost it?
Recalling the feeling of when she stood on the astronomy tower, Athena wondered if any light could shine through the collecting shadows of the path ahead. It seemed unlikely. She'd lost that dream of the future, the one she usually held onto.
Athena looked up, seeing the dark that she'd been sitting in. She wasn't helping herself. It wasn't as though she had a way to help herself. There wasn't necessarily an answer anymore. Not one that presented itself to her anyway.
Gathering herself to her feet, Athena sent one last look to the candles. One of the wicks still had a faint spark of orange as smoke curled from it. She smiled at it faintly, imaging that Lily was smiling back before she left the room.
The light of the corridor stopped her for a moment. She had to blink to steady herself. Almost forgetting that the dark hadn't taken over her entire world. She'd grown used to it for that small hour where all she had was the dim orange light.
The hall was full when she arrived. Pumpkins the size of carriages lining the walls. Athena always loved the Halloween decorations. The sky was clear and the stars twinkled down on everyone as Athena took her seat next to Trelawney.
It was rare to see Trelawney at a feast however today she'd seen a vision of her attending and therefore she was here. Halloween was one of the most superstitious times of the year meaning that Athena had to prepare herself for the lengthy talks about tea leaves and black cats.
Her eyes cast over to the Gryffindor table where she saw Neville laughing beside Seamus and Dean who had become his closest friends. Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't there however Athena had expected this.
Harry had told her earlier in the week that he'd been invited to Nearly Headless Nick's death day party. Athena supposed that this celebration definitely wouldn't be much of a spectacle. She'd never been to a death day party and she found it ironic that the man had died on Halloween. It seemed a very ghostly thing to do.
However Harry hadn't seemed too bothered about missing the feast. She wondered whether the ghost party would provide any food. She doubted it considering that ghosts couldn't eat. Making a note to save some food for the trio, she started tucking in to her own feast.
It seemed to be over as fast as it had started. The puddings disappeared and Athena placed her tucked up napkins of pie and cake into her pockets for the three children. Students got up from their seats in a chaos of noise and excitement.
Athena wouldn't be surprised if many houses were throwing Halloween parties that night. Gryffindor had always thrown one for as long as she could remember. Back when she was at school, it had been Sirius and James to organise them and before that it had been the Prewett twins.
Judging by the excited glances of the Weasley twins, Athena guessed that they might be the leaders now. This wouldn't surprise her, they seemed the type. Athena left the room behind a large group of students who were talking avidly about costumes they wanted to wear.
Athena felt a warm rush of nostalgia as she remembered her own parties. She couldn't remember them in detail, faint memories of her pretending to be a vampire or a muggle witch came back to her.
The students rounded a corner when all of a sudden, everyone came to an abrupt halt. Commotion broke out straight away and Athena pushed past the students to see what was going on.
As she got to the front of the group her jaw dropped at the scene met by her eyes. The corridor was flooded with water meaning her footsteps were amplified. Standing in the centre of the corridor were Harry, Ron and Hermione.
They stared at Athena in fright and horror, she could tell why. Hanging from one of the wall lights was a very stiff figure of a cat. Not just any cat, Filch's cat Mrs Norris. It looked dead hanging there.
Above the frozen cat there were words written on the wall in eery red lettering. Athena gulped to realise that they had been written in blood. This was definitely never a good sign.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE
Everyone around was completely quiet, Athena couldn't even think of anything to say. She was left rooted to the spot staring at Harry, Ron and Hermione and wondering how they managed to wind themselves up in a troublesome situation yet again.
"Enemies of the heir beware, you'll be next mudbloods!" Draco called as he pushed his way through to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive. His usually bloodless face was flushed as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.
"Watch your tongue Malfoy or you'll be in detention longer than you've been at the school" Athena snapped in anger. Malfoy's smirk didn't disappear which made her even more frustrated however a second later this became the least of her problems.
"What's going on here? What's going on?" Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Athena felt her heart race rapidly as his eyes landed on Mrs Norris.
He fell back, clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat!" He yelled out, "what have you done to Mrs Norris?"
His bulging eyes fell onto Harry and Athena knew that this wasn't going to end well.
"You!" He screeched, "you! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you, I'll—"
"It wasn't Harry!" Athena shouted,
"Argus!" Another voice came out of the midst and Athena turned to see that Dumbledore had arrived on the scene followed by a number of other teachers.
In seconds, he 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 and Miss Granger"
Athena turned to the three children who were at this point looking nearly as frozen as the cat. She shot them an encouraging smile and beckoned them forwards, making the decision to go with them.
As she turned back to the crowds, she saw Gilderoy Lockhart jump out of the throng looking slightly too eager.
"My office is nearest Headmaster, just upstairs, please feel free"
"Thank you Gilderoy" Dumbledore nodded courteously.
The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore. Athena noticed that they were also accompanied by McGonagall and Snape. She knew that Snape's presence was foreboding. He wanted nothing more than to see Harry leave the school.
As they entered Lockhart's darkened office, there was a flurry of movement across the walls. Athena looked up to see many of Lockhart's self portraits dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers.
The real Lockhart lit the candles in the dim and stood back. Dumbledore laid Mrs Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her. Athena looked to the other teachers in the room who looked as fearful and scared as her.
The words on the wall were now imprinted in her mind. She was sure that this was some kind of practical joke. Of course she'd heard of the chamber of secrets, most students who attended the school had. It had been opened before years ago, anyone could have read about this and taken it upon themselves to pull a seasonal Halloween prank.
Dumbledore stared at Mrs Norris for a long while, occasionally running his wand through the air as though expecting something to happen. However for a while nothing did.
Snape was standing, blending into the gloom because of his dark robes. McGonagall stood closest to Dumbledore and seemed greatly concerned for the well-being of the cat. Lockhart however was being incredibly unhelpful in calling out 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 counter curse that would have saved her—"
Lockhart's comments were punctured 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. Athena couldn't help but feel sorry for the man, she understood what it was like to lose a pet.
"... I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadougou" Lockhart continued, "a series of attacks, the full stories in my autobiography. I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets which cleared up the matter at once"
"She's not dead Argus" Dumbledore confirmed as he stood up, Lockhart came to a faltering stop in describing the murders he had prevented.
"Not dead?" Chocked Filch looking through his fingers at Mrs Norris, "but why's she all stiff and frozen?"
"She's been petrified" Dumbledore concluded,
"Ah I thought so!" Lockhart chimed,
"However I cannot say how"
"Ask him!" Filch yelled as he pointed at Harry,
"No second year could have done this" said Dumbledore firmly, "it would take dark magic of the most advanced—"
"He did it! He did it!" Filch spat, "you saw what he wrote on the wall! He found it— in my office— he knows I'm a— he knows I'm a squib!"
Athena turned to Harry in confusion. The young boy hadn't mentioned this,
"I never touched Mrs Norris!" Harry exclaimed, "and I don't even know what a squib is"
"Rubbish!" Snarled Filch, "he saw my Kwikspell letter!"
"If I might speak Headmaster" Snape stepped forwards from the shadows,
"I'd rather you didn't" Athena muttered under her breath.
"Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time" he began with a slight sneer, "but we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why were they in the upstairs corridor at all? Why weren't they at the Halloween feast?"
"They were at Nearly Headless Nick's death day party" Athena spoke up immediately in defence of the trio, "they told me about it before hand"
"But why not join the feast afterwards?" Snape continued, "why go up to that corridor?"
"Because" Harry began with a slight stutter, "because we were tired and wanted to go to bed"
"Without any supper?" Snape asked menacingly.
"They didn't need to go down to the hall" Athena jumped in, "I told them I'd get some for them to save them coming down, they thought they'd miss the whole thing you see"
Athena now reached into her pockets and pulled out the nearly wrapped pastries as evidence.
Snape faltered for only a moment as he glared at Athena,
"I do not see why you have to speak for them, I sense that Potter isn't being truthful, if I were his head of house I would think it right that he'd be deprived of certain privileges until he feels ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Gryffindor quidditch team until he is ready to be honest"
"Really Severus!" McGonagall snapped sharply, "I see no reason to stop the boy playing quidditch. The cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong"
Dumbledore was giving the three of them a wandering glance before he spoke,
"Innocent until proven guilty I feel"
"My cat has been petrified!" Filch shrieked, "I want to see some punishment"
"We will be able to cure her Argus" Dumbledore continued patiently, "Madame Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made which will revive Mrs Norris"
"I'll make it!" Lockhart butted in, looking directly at Athena as he said this, "I must have done it a hundred times, I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep—"
"Excuse me" said Snape icily, "but I believe I am the potions master at this school"
His words caused a very awkward pause and Athena fought the sudden urge to laugh.
"You may go" Dumbledore nodded towards the three children. They didn't need telling twice, they practically ran out of the classroom and Athena wasn't far behind.
"Here!" She called, taking the food out of her pockets again and passing them to the group.
"Thank you Rena" Hermione smiled,
"I swear we had nothing to do with Mrs Norris!" Harry exclaimed,
"I know you didn't" Athena smiled calmly, "I'm sure this is all some weird prank blown out of proportion"
"Do you believe that?" Hermione asked, "truthfully"
Athena faltered for a moment with a small sigh,
"Truthfully I'm not sure, but it's best you don't worry about it. Ok?"
The three nodded before they took off along the corridor already unwrapping the food hungrily. Athena stood pondering to herself. She couldn't help but think that this was a bigger threat than what it seemed. She wondered whether Harry would ever get a normal year at Hogwarts.
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A/n
Words - 2615
Published - 2nd May 2021