For a few days, the school could talk of little but the attack on Mrs Norris. Filch kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker would come back.
The Malfoy girl tried to seem as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened; but she couldn't fool her friends. Especially the one and only Cedric Diggory. Every chance he could, he would ask her how she was. The answer was always the same:
"I'm fine.. for the 100th time today." she sighed, laying her head down on the table.
"No, you're not. Little snake, you know you can tell me- us, your friends- anything. ANYTHING!"
"I'm telling the truth, Ced!"
"No, you're not."
"I am. Really!"
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"No- Wait! I am tel-" she tried to cover her mistake up, but nothing went unnoticed by the Hufflepuff.
"See?!" he exclaimed. "You're not okay. Look, if it bothers you so much, I don't think it's a good idea to keep it in."
She just sighed in response, giving in. Cedric taking the hint, he inched closer to her. So close, she could feel his breath on her. That took her off guard for a quick second, but quickly calmed herself.
"So it's about the attack. Ya know- with Mrs Norris."
She took a quick glance at his serious face. His brows were furrowed, sign of concentration.
"Some still seem to think that it was out fault, even though we were at the Deathday Party - as I have already told you all. We were there at the wrong time..." she took a breath in to prepair for the serious part of the story. "So how we got there is what's bothering me. Not just me, the trio too. We were just leaving the party when me and Harry heard a voice- a cold voice." she shivered at the thought of it.
Cedric noticed it and placed a hand on her back, rubbing circles around to soothe her.
"Thanks." she shily smiled and resumed. "So... It was saying something about killing. We decided to follow it and it brought us to the scene. Mrs Norris had already been petrified by the time we arrived there. The rest is history."
For a moment, there was only silence. Y/N was waiting for the worst to come out of his mouth, as it's not okay to hear voices even in their complicated and magical world. It wasn't a good sign.
"Well then..." she could hear him mumble under his breath.
She looked at him and he seemed to analyse every little piece of information he had received; both from her and what people have been talking.
"It is strange indeed that only you and Harry could hear the voice... Is it because Ron and Hermione weren't paying attention?"
"No- they CAN'T hear it. As if-" she suddenly drifted off, realising something. A key component of the mistery at hand. She turned in a slow manner towards the boy. "Library. Now."
Rushing towards the library, she left her things behind. Cedric quickly got her backpack and books and ran towards the library. When he arrived, she was looking after some sort of book like a madman.
"Y/N. What are you-"
"Parseltongue. That's why Hermione and Ron can't hear it. That's the only logical explanation that I can come up with at the moment. How Harry can understand Parseltongue beats me, but I know I can."
"Harry's a Parselmouth? You too?" he asked amazed.
"I can't speak it, but understand it. Dad made me learn it. I don't know about Harry though." she shrugged.
"How are you sure about this?"
"Gut feeling. Now help me find something that can help us!"
For the following minutes they have been searching for a book about parseltongue or serpents. Anything that has to do with the subject was of big help. They gave up, not finding anything after one hour.
"Nothing." they both sigh and sulk down into the nearest chairs.
"Little snake, you do remember the message written on the wall that day, right? What if you ask Professor Snape about the Chamber of Secrets. He's a teacher, he should at least know something. I mean, you're one of his favourite students, you can't deny it. You're also in his house."
"Hmm... Good idea. After Potions tomorrow, I will ask him. What do the second years have tomorrow?"
"Not sure. Go and find Harry and ask him."
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After her Potion class had finished, Y/N went to the from and asked Snape about the Chamber of Secrets.
"Well, since you seem so interested, I shall tell you, Miss Malfoy. As you know, Hogwarts has been founded by the four greatest witches and wizards of that age : Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, ROwena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. For years, the founders worked in harmony together. But then a rift between Slytherin and Gryffindor began to grow. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. After a while, there was a serios argument between the two and Slytherin left the school.
Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. He then sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open in until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash what is within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."
"Interesting. Well, thank you very much Professor Snape! See you tomorrow!" she left as quickly as she could from there to find Harry, Ron and Hermione to tell them about what she learned from Snape but also her take on the situation.
Arrived in the yard, she kept on searching for Hermione's big and fluffy hair - an indicator. And then she found it.
Rushing, she almost fell on top of them from the sudden break she had to make.
"Guys! Guys!" she had her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. "I have some info that I would like to share with you three."
"Us too." responded Hermione. "We were just heading towards the library. You should come too."
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"It makes sense, really. Slytherin is associated with snakes and Parseltongue." Hermione said.
"Wait... So you think the voice you and Harry have been hearing is Parseltongue? Wow, Harry, didn't know you could speak it." Ron patted his friend on the back.
"Neither did I. I have spoken to snakes before, but I though it is normal in the wizarding world."
"Not really. It's really rare for a wizard to speak it. I can only understand it." Y/N added. "So- about what you guys wanted to tell me. Have you found any information?"
"Not really. But we do have a plan on how to gather information. Making a Polyjuice Potion so we can transform into Crabbe and Goyle and ask Malfoy abut what he knows about the Chamber of Secrets." said Ron.
"I though about asking you, but since you haven't told us anything about the Chamber of Secrets up until now, I figured you don't know anything about it." said Hermione.
"Well I do know something. My dad has told me that the chamber has been opened before; it was when my dad was still at school. And someone died, I think. Sorry, but it has been a long time since he told me. I advise you ask Draco. Father has 100% told him about it. But back to the Polyjuice potion; it's hard to make one. And it also takes about a month to make it. Are you sure you want to go through with this plan?"
"It's the only plan we've got." shrugged the muggle-born.
A few days later, one of the Weasley twins, Fred, pulled the Slytherin aside and gave her a note.
She unfolded the paper and read : "Second-floor girls' lavatory, before lunch."
She was rather confused for a few seconds, before realising it was the first years' plan. They agreed to meeting there when working on the potion.
So, at lunch, she was rushing towards the bathroom and quickly closed the door behind her. Only to find, when turning around, the three bent over the book.
"I'm not drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenail in it..." said Ron sharply.
"It can also be hair, Ron." chuckled Y/N, startling the three. "Calm down, it's just me. Now, why did you call me here? Need help with the potion or just after you take the potion?"
"The latter." said Harry. "We need to get into the Slytherin common room and we can't do that without the help of an actual Slytherin. And you also need to make our acting seem more real. You've been around Crabbe and Goyle; you know them."
"Not better than you three. But I'll try my best, I guess." she sighed.
Looking back at the list of ingredients, Harry had began to worry. "D'you realise how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of Boomslang, that's definitely not in the student's cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores?"
Hermione shut the book with a snap.
"Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine." she said. "I don't want to break the rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse tham brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in..."
"Woah, wait a second. You're doing all of this to find out if Draco is the Heir of Slytherin?" the older Malfoy started laughing. "He isn't. I would know it. He's just heir to our family name, that's all. If he could controll a whole entire beast, I would 100% know."
"Y/N, didn't you hear what he said when Mrs Norris was petrified? It sounded like a threat."
"I do remember. He wanted to look all big and mighty. That's just how he is." Y/N pointed out. "But it's worth a shot; your plan, I mean. I can't ask him anything about the Chamber, since he'll tell father."