Filch pushed his way past Delilah and Draco, helping them see Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing in the middle of the crowd. Of course Harry had gotten involved somehow.
"What's going on here? What's going on here?" he stopped when he saw Mrs. Norris. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?"
Then 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—"
Luckily before he could move towards Harry, Dumbledore appeared.
"Argus!" he walked to the crime scene and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
He was followed by a number of other teachers.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."
Lockhart 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 pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape.
Delilah wanted to follow but didn't see how she could, so she followed Draco to the Slytherin common room.
"Let's head to my room, we'll have more privacy that way," Draco suggested and Delilah nodded.
They walked in and it was basically the same as Delilah's but was more decorated.
On the walls were pictures of the Bulgarian quidditch team and a Wizarding band she didn't recognize.
"I'm pretty sure that the voice is a snake," Draco announced and Delilah nodded, it was the only thing that made sense.
"Mrs. Norris wasn't dead, she was just petrified. You could tell by the way she was stiff. I can go to the library later to see what types of snakes can petrify people."
Draco nodded. "That works, do you have any ideas who it could be?"
Delilah shook her head. She hadn't really noticed anyone acting weird. Except for... but no. She was a Gryffindor and wouldn't hurt a fly.
"Why does the Chamber of Secrets sound so familiar? Like I've read it somewhere," Delilah asked.
"Isn't it in Hogwarts: A History?"
"Of course! Do you have it?"
He nodded. "I barely could fit it in with all the boring Lockhart books."
He walked to his trunk and pulled it out.
They huddled over it and found the chapter labeled Legends and Myths.
It read:
Hogwarts has four founders, Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff.
They all got along well until Slytherin wanted to be more selective of their students.
They fought over it and Slytherin left the school.
Legend has it that he left behind 'The Chamber of Secrets'. It is said to hold a monster that he alone would be able to control in hopes that one day his descendants would purge the school of all those he deemed 'unworthy'.
When they were done reading they were both surprised.
"I didn't realize that he started all of that blood purity nonsense."
Draco nodded. "Not too surprising though."
"So the 'monster that lies within' the chamber is most likely a snake, and later we'll go to the library and see what types can petrify people," Delilah stifled a yawn. "Let's go to bed, it's getting late. Night."
Delilah headed to her room and went straight to sleep.
For a few days the school could only talk about the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept it fresh in their minds by pacing the spot where it had happened as if the attacker would return to the scene. Like they'd be that stupid. He also scrubbed the message on the wall, but it had no effect whatsoever. When Filch wasn't guarding the scene he was prowling the hallways bad-tempered getting mad at students for 'looking happy' and 'breathing too loudly'.
Ginny was becoming very distressed. Delilah knew that she loved cats, and hoped that's why she was upset but the other, impossible, theory kept coming up.
Whenever Delilah tried to check that Ginny was ok, she would just nod or ignore her completely.
The other students started avoiding the Slytherins because of the 'Heir of Slytherin' and 'Slytherin's monster'. But it really bit when all of the Hufflepuffs started as well. It hurt even more when Lyra was coming towards her, but before Delilah could say hello, Lyra froze and abruptly turned around and hurried in the opposite direction.
Delilah felt a pang. Lyra was really nice and wouldn't have done that. Delilah sighed and headed to the library and headed to the animal section where Draco was.
"Find any books about snakes?"
Draco shook his head. "The closest was that reptile book that didn't have what we're looking for."
Ever since the attack, whenever they had extra time they headed to the library and looked for a book about snakes.
"It's been a week, we should ask Madam Pince," Delilah suggested. They had made an agreement that after a while they would ask. They hadn't at first, because they were nervous that it would draw attention to them, not that anyone else thought the monster was a snake, but they wanted to err on the side of caution unless they needed help.
"Fine, you can. I'll keep looking while you ask."
She walked up to Madam Pince, a dragon-like woman who Delilah thought may have a relationship with Filch, if that was possible.
"How can I help you?" Madam Pince asked.
"I'm looking for a book about different types of snakes," Delilah stated and Madam Pince headed off to find a book.
"Looking up your own kind?" a teasing voice said from behind her.
Delilah grinned. "Hey Alex. Of course I am, I forgot what a certain type did and it's driving me insane."
"Hm, good thing Madam Pince is on her way back."
"Yeah, oh, and do you want to continue the Charms lessons?" Delilah inquired.
Madam Pince came back with a thick book labeled Magical Reptiles. "Does this work?"
Delilah nodded.
"Thank you, so do you want to?" she repeated, turning to Alex.
He hesitated.
"Nah, I'm good. It seems to be easier this year for some reason. Well, see you around."
Alex hurried off.
Delilah raised her eyebrow as he retreated to his friends before heading towards Draco. They opened the book hidden between two bookshelves.
There was only one type that could petrify people. The Basilisk.
Delilah and Draco stared at each other. This was the answer. They checked out the book and hurried to their next class.
On the way there Miguel hurried up to her.
"Hi Delilah! A boy in my class has been saying that you're the-" but he was so small that the tide of people carried him towards the Great Hall.
"Wonder what they've been saying," Draco wondered.
"Probably that I'm the Heir of Slytherin, I am in Slytherin after all," said Delilah, remembering how Lyra had avoided her and Aleex had hurried away.
They continued walking and stopped by a window. On the window there were about twenty spiders scuttling through a small crack in a straight line.
"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" Delilah asked him.
"No, have you?"
Delilah shook her head.
They headed past the place Filch had been guarding to find it flooded.
"Huh, I never realized the attack happened just outside Myrtle's bathroom."
"Myrtle's bathroom? Who's Myrtle?"
"I'll show you, no one's ever in there."
Draco looked confused as she dragged him inside.
The flood was even worse inside. All the taps, except one, were running. Delilah walked over and turned them off.
"Myrtle, what's wrong?" Delilah asked. The bathroom seemed to be empty. Then, a ghost of a girl showed up.
"He's not a girl," Myrtle was staring at Draco.
"Yes, but he was with me when I saw you flooded the bathroom and wanted to see what was wrong with me," Delilah said. It wasn't a complete lie, just not the full truth.
"Oh, Peeves just upset me so much on Halloween I tried to kill myself. Then I remember that I'm already dead," Myrtle sniffled and rose up in the air.
"Well, don't listen to him. He just wants a reaction. And speaking of Halloween night, did you notice anything... odd?" Delilah asked.
"No, I was too upset to notice anything. Peeves was really rude, he- he called me pimply!" Myrtle sobbed tragically.
"Myrtle, you are not pimply. Ignore Peeves, he just likes to mess with everyone."
"Oh, and I suppose you think I'm being over dramatic," she was, but neither of them were going to say anything, "but you've never been called pimply!"
Myrtle gave a tragic sob and dived headfirst into the toilet.
Delilah sighed. "And that's her when she's almost cheerful," They both left the bathroom and hurried off to their last class of the day.