CHAPTER 36
|WRITING ON THE WALL|
As soon as the Slytherin team are off the pitch and the Gryffindor team takes their place, the view on the screen shifts away and moves upward toward the sky. The sun is shown shining on the screen until it changes into the fires of a torch in the castle.
Cathy and Professor McGonagall are seen walking through a corridor at night. Cathy is seen visibly sweating and tying to fan herself.
“Why am I still sweating like that?” Cathy questioned.
“Perhaps you’re sick.” Regulus suggested.
“I never get sick.”
“First time for everything.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go and have Pomfrey to take a look at you, Catherine?” asked Professor McGonagall.
“I’m fine.” Cathy said wiping away some sweat. “I’m gonna go see Mary in a bit and just have her take a look at me.”
As the two witches turned at the end of the corridor to the next one, they came to find Neville, Ryan and Ron. Each of them was on separate step ladders and had been shining the trophies that were displayed on the wall.
“How’s your day been boys?” Cathy asked gaining their attention.
“This sucks!” Ryan complained.
“It wouldn’t be a punishment if it didn’t.” Professor McGonagall informed him.
“Exactly.” Professor McGonagall nodded.
“Professor, why does the school have to have so many trophies?” Ron asked.
Professor McGonagall looked at the ginger sternly. “So that the achievements of past students inspire their successors.”
“And does it?” Neville enquired.
“I’ve never seen it happen before but who knows maybe it’ll happen one day.” Cathy shrugged.
“If we sticking to the whole inspiration concept than couldn’t we get rid of the trophies that are more than a hundred years old.” Ryan suggested. He took a close look at the trophy that he was polishing and turned back to the teachers. “I mean who is gonna be inspired by the fact that in 1890 Sebastian Sallow was won a prize for being a duelist?”
“But if we get rid of most of the trophies however, will we make your punishments feel frustrating?” Cathy asked in a mock-concerned tone.
Ryan went back to polishing his trophy and began mumbling his complaints to himself.
“Where is Mr. Potter?’ Professor McGonagall questioned. “Shouldn’t he be here as well?”
The three boys all gave each other looks of sadness and pity.
“He’s doing something much worse than this.” Neville told Cathy and Professor McGonagall.
“And what is that?”
“Lockhart.” The three boys said in unison.
Gilderoy Lockhart looked annoyed at the way that the boys had made detention with him sound.
“Oh, the poor thing.” Cathy said sounding sympathetic. “Well, we’ll be on our way to the Great Hall for dinner. Have fun with what you’re doing.”
After Cathy and Professor McGonagall left, the three boys went back to polishing the trophies.
“I doubt we will.” Ryan said.
The camera focused in on Ryan’s chest and showed that a light green glow began to emit itself. Ryan looked at his chest and pulled out Salazar’s Slytherins locket.
“What’s up with that thing?” James questioned.
“I dunno but if that thing belonged to Slytherin I doubt that its good.” Sirius said.
“There you are.” Hermione’s voice interrupted the boys from their work. “Your detention was over half an hour ago.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me that?” Ron said throwing the cloth that he was using away.
“Uh, guys.” Ryan gathered everyone’s attention and they saw him holding up Salazar Slytherins glowing locket.
“What’s that?” Ron asked.
“I have no idea.” Ryan answered.
“Harry, Harry, Harry. Can you possibly imagine a better way to serve detention than by helping me to answer my fan mail?” Professor Lockhart asked as the scene shifted to Harry and Lockhart in his office with a large stack of letters before them.
“Not really.” Harry mumbled.
“Fame is a fickle friend, Harry.” Lockhart said in an arrogant manner. “Celebrity is as celebrity does. Remember that.”
“Come.” Harry stopped what he was doing and looked up at the sound of the voice whispering in his ear. “Come, come, come to me. Come to me!”
‘What the hell was that?’ Fleamont said.
“What?” Harry said.
Lockhart turned to Harry confused. “Sorry?”
“That voice."
“Voice?”
“Didn’t you hear it?” Harry enquired.
“What are you talking about, Harry? I think we’re getting a bit a- drowsy.” Lockhart took a look at his pocket watch. “And, Great Scott- no wonder! Look at the time! We’ve been here nearly four hours! Spooky how the time flies when one’s having fun. Heh, heh.”
“Spooky.” Harry nodded.
Harry got up from his seat and stretched his legs out before saying goodbye to Professor Lockhart and heading out of the office.
As Harry walked through the corridors of the school, the whispering voice from earlier began to speak again.
“Blood. I smell blood. Let me rip you.” Harry began to run and press his hands along the walls of the school as he did. “Let me kill you. Kill! Kill! Kill!”
“Okay seriously, what is that?” Fleamont said.
“Dad shh!” Cathy shushed him.
Harry turned to the left at the end of corridor and stumbled into Hermione, Ryan, Ron and Neville coming from the other end of the corridor.
“Harry!” Hermione called out to him.
“Did you hear it?” Harry questioned his friends.
“Hear what?” Ron asked.
“That voice.” Harry whispered.
Hermione and the boys looked confused. “Voice? What voice?”
“I heard it first in Lockhart’s office. And then again just—”
“It’s time.” The voice said again cutting Harry off.
“We were following this thing my mum gave me.” Ryan said pointing to the locket in his hand. He was holding it up by its chain and the locket was still glowing and pointing at the end of the corridor that they were all heading towards.
“It’s moving. I think it’s going to kill.” Harry warned.
Neville gulped nervously. “K-Kill?” he stuttered.
Harry took off running to the end of the corridor and the others sprinted after him.
“So, he hears a voice that no one else but him can hear saying that its going to kill and he heads towards it?” Remus pointed out. “Definitely James’ brains.”
“Hey!” James looked annoyed at Remus.
“Harry, wait!” Hermione called after him. “Not so fast!”
Harry didn’t heed Hermione’s words and kept running. When he got to the end of the corridor he turned right and as the other four caught up to him, Harry slowed down and stopped when he noticed spiders crawling out of the castle and out a window in a single file.
‘Strange.” Harry noted. “I’ve never seen spiders act like that.”
“I don’t like spiders” Ron said turning white and having some of his hair stand on its ends. Ron looked away from the spiders and noticed a puddle of water forming from a trail that was coming from the corridor near them. “What’s that?”
“The Chamber of Secrets has been opened... enemies the heir...beware.” Ryan read out. “Is that what I think it is."
Several people in the audience looked frightened and confused at the image that was displayed on the screen. The Slytherins in the audience had strange looks on their faces but tried to keep a cool and collected expression.
“It’s written in blood.” Hermione nodded.
“What’s that thing hanging underneath?” said Neville, a slight quiver in his voice.
As they edged nearer, they inched toward the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash.
Mrs. Norris, the caretaker’s cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
Filch grabbed and hugged his cat close to his chest tightly.
For a few seconds, they didn’t move. Then Ryan said, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Shouldn’t we try and help—” Harry began awkwardly.
“Trust me, Hazza,” said Ryan. “We don’t want to be found here.”
But it was too late. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were crashing into the passage from both ends.
“Too late.” Lily said.
The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat. Harry, Ryan, Neville Ron, and Hermione stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students pressing forward to see the grisly sight.
“Oh!” Madame Pomfrey gasped at the scene as she and the other members of the faculty arrived.
“Enemies of the heir beware! You’ll be next, Mudbloods!”
Draco Malfoy looked directly at Hermione with a wicked smile when he said that.
“Evil little bastard!” Someone in the audience shouted.
“What’s going on here? What’s going on?”
Attracted no doubt by Malfoy’s shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.
“My cat! My cat! What’s happened to Mrs. Norris?” he shrieked. And 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 —”
“Argus!” Dumbledore made his way to the front of the gathering students with Professor McGonagall and Cathy at his side. Once Dumbledore saw the writing on the wall, he spoke to the gather students in the corridor.
“Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately.” The students immediately followed their Headmasters words and started to leave. “Everyone except... you five.” Dumbledore pointed to Harry, Ryan, Ron, Hermione and Neville.
“Ravenclaws, follow me!” one of the prefects told her house members."
Once most of the students left Cathy went closer and quickly examined the caretaker’s beloved cat.
“She’s not dead, Headmaster.” Cathy declared. “She has been Petrified.”
“Ah, thought so.” Lockhart said. “So unlucky I wasn’t there. I know exactly the counter curse that could have spared her.”
Cathy and the other people gathered there just rolled their eyes and ignored Lockhart.
“Can you reverse it?” Dumbledore enquired.
“I should be able to.” Cathy said. She gathered chaos magic in her hands and directed it toward Mrs. Norris. When the red wisps of magic entered her body, nothing happened. “Uh-oh.”
“What happened?” James questioned.
“What is it?” Dumbledore asked.
“Something’s interfering with my magic.” Cathy said. “I don’t know what petrified her but this wasn’t done with normal magic.”
“What could possible interfere with your chaos magic?” Regulus asked.
Cathy thought about it for a moment. “Off the top of my head? Someone else’s chaos magic.”
"Ask him.” Filch said glaring at Filch. “It’s him who’s done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall.
“It’s not true sir, I swear. I never touched Mrs. Norris.” Harry defended.
“Rubbish!”
“If I might, Headmaster?” Snape spoke. “Perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don’t recall seeing Potter or any of the other boys at dinner.”
“I’m afraid that’s my doing, Severus. You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail.” Lockhart informed him.
“And we had detention.” Ron said. “Professor McGonagall and Professor Potter saw us.”
“Good alibi.” Marlene said.
“That’s why I went looking for them, Professor.” Hermione said. “I got to Neville, Ron and Ryan first and then we found him when he said...” Hermione looked to Harry.
Ryan slowly and carefully put the locket, that had now stopped glowing, back into his pocket. An action that didn’t go unnoticed by Cathy.
“Yes, Miss Granger?” Snape pressed for an answer.
“When I said I wasn’t hungry.” Harry finished for her. “We were heading back to the common room when we found Mrs. Norris."
Snape looked to Dumbledore with an annoyed look. “Innocent until proven guilty, Severus.”
“My cat has been Petrified. I wanna see some punishment!” Filch shouted.
“We will be able to cure her, Argus.” Dumbledore assured him. “As I understand it, Madame Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrakes. When matured, a potion will be made which will revive Mrs. Norris. And in the meantime, I strongly recommend caution... to all.”
Cathy walked over to the five of them and ushered them to the side.
“Are you all alright?” she whispered.
“Yes.” Ryan answered.
“Good.” Cathy said wiping some sweat off her forehead. “Go to bed now, all of you.”
The five of them quickly left the scene as quickly as they could without running. When they were on one of the staircases they stopped as the staircase moved.
“It’s a bit strange, isn’t it?” Hermione said.
“Strange?” Harry repeated.
Hermione nodded. “First Ryan’s locket starts to glow and then you hear this voice, a voice only you can hear, and then Mrs. Norris turns up Petrified. It’s just... strange.”
“My mum said that the locket used to belong to Salazar Slytherin.” Ryan informed the others taking out the old heirloom. “Do you think that that has something to do with this chamber of secrets?”
“Did she tell you how she got it?” Neville asked.
Ryan shook his head. “She just said that I was suppose to have it is all.”
“You really need to break that habit of yours of being incredibly vague.” Euphemia told her daughter.
“Do you think I should have told them about the voice?” Harry enquired. “Dumbledore and the others, I mean?”
“Are you mad?” Ron said as the staircase stopped.
“No, Harry. Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn’t a good sign.” Hermione told him.
“She’s right, you know.” A person in a portrait told him.