"Let's get out of here," Ron said, but it was too late.
There was a rumble of footsteps and students were suddenly all around us. It was silent for a few minutes, but Malfoy shoved his way through with a smirk.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
Well that was typical, and completely expected. I just shook my head at his un-originallity.
"What's going on here? What's going on?"
We all gulped as Filch rounded the corner, took one look at Mrs Norris and then came down on Harry and I. I would have let out a terrified scream at his face it the other teachers hadn't arrived.
"Argus!" Dumbledore called warningly. In seconds, he had swept past us 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 Miss Sparrow."
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly and said, "My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free -"
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore who shot me an amused look as Snape caught me by my collar in my attempt to sneak off.
Once the door was closed, Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her. The four of us exchanged tense looks waited.
"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 counter curse that would have saved her . . ."
"Oh would you shut up!" I snapped, "This is important, you're not!"
"Miss Sparrow," McGonagall said, but I could see a small smile.
". . . 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 . . ."
I threw the first book I found, clunking Lockhart on the head, now Dumbledore and even Snape were hiding smiles. Snape too! That must have been the first time ever! Well, it was more a smirk to be honest but it was something.
"She's not dead, Argus," Dumbledore said softly
"Not dead?" choked Filch, "But why's she all - all stiff and frozen?"
"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore.
"Ah! I thought so!" said Lockhart, "Ouch!" Another book had hit him, this time in the gut.
"But how, I cannot say . . . ."
"Ask them two!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tear-stained face to Harry and I.
I quickly hid the book i had raised over my head and whistled innocently.
"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, his pouchy face purpling. "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found - in my office - he knows I'm a – and last year you said – you said she used dangerous magic!"
"OI, ADVANCED MAGIC NOT DANGEROUS AND I DID NOTHING TO YOUR STUPID CAT!" I yelled.
"We 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," said Snape, "Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling his mouth as though he doubted it. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"
We all burst into an explanation about the death day party.
". . . there were hundreds of ghosts, they'll tell you we were there -"
"But why not join the feast afterward?" said Snape, "Why go up to that corridor?"
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry and I. Sure, way to single us out and make us look guilty, guys.
"Because - because -" Harry said, "Because we were tired and wanted to go to bed," he said.
"Without any supper?" said Snape, a triumphant smile flickering across his gaunt face. "I didn't think ghosts provided food fit for living people at their parties."
"We weren't hungry," said Ron loudly as his stomach gave a huge rumble.
"I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he said. "It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is 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," said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick. (I burst out laughing and tried to smother it) There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong."
Dumbledore was giving Harry and I a searching look. His twinkling light- blue gaze made me feel as though I was being X-rayed.
"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," he said firmly.
Snape looked furious. So did Filch.
"My cat has been Petrified!" he shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."
"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "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."
"Yeah! Don't steal Debbie's job you prat! Snape's awesome you hear!" I snapped. McGonagall gave a giggle at the name Debbie.
"Now I was under the impression that you disliked Professor Snape," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.
"No, he's one of my favourites actually, and I bloody well love the guy compared to Lockhart," I said.
There was a very awkward pause and i could see the hair in front of my face turning bright pink out of embarrassment.
"I don't mean love, like you know with babies all that i mean like a kind of odd fondness, you know that kind of fondness you have for a fish or a small cute animal sort of – you know what I'll just shut up now," i muttered, realising I'd dug myself into a deep hole.
"You may go," Dumbledore said to us.
We were almost at the Gryffindor common room before Harry spoke up.
"D'you think I should have told them about that voice I heard?" I elbowed him, "That Belle and I heard."
"No," said Ron, without hesitation. "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."
"You do believe us, don't you?" I asked.
"'Course I do," said Ron quickly. "But - you must admit it's weird . . ."
"I know it's weird," said Harry. "The whole thing's weird. What was that writing on the wall about? The Chamber Has Been Opened . . . What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know, it rings a sort of bell," said Ron slowly. "I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once . . . might've been Bill . . ."
"And what on earth's a Squib?" I asked, making Ron snigger.
"Well - it's not funny really - but as it's Filch," he said. "A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a lot. Like why he hates students so much." Ron gave a satisfied smile. "He's bitter."
I said goodnight to them and snuck my way into the common room. Almost immediately eyes fell on me but with a scowl and a glare i had them looking away quick enough. For a few days, the school could talk of little else but the attack on Mrs. Norris.
-