Lockhart's Classroom
(The walls of Lockhart's office, lined with framed photographs of... Gilderoy Lockhart. Y/n, Harry and Lockhart work by candle light at an ornate desk. Bleary eyed, Y/n and Harry address envelopes, while a cheery Lockhart puts his signature to the stack of glossy photos bearing his image)
Lockhart: Can youpossibly imagine a better way to serve detention than by helping me answer my fan mail?
(Y/n and Harry force a smile)
Lockhart: Fame's a fickle friend, boys. Celebrity is as celebrity does. Remember that.
(Harry nods, glancing gloomily at the towering stack of envelopes that remain. Dipping his quill, he starts towrite, when... a chilly voice fills the room causing Y/n to stop)
Voice: Come... come to me...
Y/n: What?
Lockhart: I was saying, six solid months at the top of the bestseller list! Broke all records!
Y/n: Not you... that voice.
Harry: I heard it too.
Lockhart: Voice?
Harry: Didn't you hear it?
Lockhart: What are you two talking about? I think we're getting a bit drowsy. Great Scott and no wonder, look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours! Dinner's nearly done! If you two hurry you might make pudding. Spooky how the time flies when one's having fun!
(Y/n looks around confused)
Corridor
(Y/n and Harry pass quickly through the lengthening shadows of the empty corridor, when...)
Voice: Blood... I smell blood...
Harry: Y/n...
Y/n: I hear it too...
(They stop cold, looking around for the source of the voice)
Voice: Let me rip you... let me kill you...
(Y/n steps to the wall, playing his fingers along the stone, then begins walk, slowly at first, then more quickly, as if following something, moving faster and faster, rounding the corner and coming face to face with... Hermione and Ron)
Hermione: Y/n! Harry!
Harry: Did you hear it?
Ron: Hear what?
Y/n: That... voice.
Hermione: Voice? What voice?
Harry: We heard it first in Lockhart's office and then again, just-
Voice: Kill... Time to kill...
(As Y/n and Harry stiffen, Hermione and Ron study them curiously)
Y/n: It's moving. I think it's going to kill.
(Y/n and Harry run off. Hermione and Ron exchange a glance, follow. Y/n and Harry dash madly, taking the steps three at a time. They make the landing, rush through the archway, and... sled to a stop, listening... Nothing. Slowly, they peer down. Water is oozing over the stone floor, surrounding their shoes. Y/n's own reflection appears and, behind it, undulating like a dream... words. Ron and Hermione come huffing up)
Ron: Y/n, Harry, what are you doing?
(Y/n points. Shimmering on the wall are the words he saw reflected in water: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED ENEMIES OF THE HEIR... BEWARE)
Hermione: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened...?"
Ron: What's that? Hanging underneath?
Harry: That's Filch's cat. Mrs. Norris.
(The cat hangs stiffly by her tail from a torch bracket, eyes open and blank. Harry's eyes shift to the adjacent window near the topmost pane, spiders scuttle up a silvery thread, fight to get through a crack in the glass)
Hermione: Look at that. Have you ever seen spiders act like that? Ron...?
Ron: I... don't... like... spiders.
(Suddenly, the stairwell is alive with voices and, seconds later, dozens of students stream forth, chattering... when they stop, seeing the wall and, standing before it, Y/n, Harry, Ron and Hermione. A thudding silence falls. Then Draco pushes forward, eyes the wall, and grins nastily)
Draco: Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!
(Draco's eyes find Hermione, just as Filch appears)
Filch: What's going on here? Go on now! Make way... Mrs. Norris! You! You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll-
Dumbledore: Argus!
(Dumbledore marches forward, trailed by a phalanx of teachers. Seeing the wall, Dumbledore's face darkens)
Dumbledore: Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately. Everyone except you four.
(As the corridor empties, Dumbledore steps to the wall and, with extreme gentleness, removes Mrs. Norris)
Lockhart: It was definitely a curse that killed her probably the Transmogrifian Torture. Encountered it myself once, in Ouagadougou. The full story's in my autobiography...
Dumbledore: She's not dead, Argus. She's been Petrified.
Lockhart: Precisely! So unlucky I wasn't there. I know the very countercurse that could have spared her...
Dumbledore: But how she's been Petrified... I cannot say.
(Filch points at Y/n)
Lilch: Ask that one! He did it. You saw what he wrote on the wall! Besides, he knows I'm... I'm a Squib.
Y/n: That's rubbish. I never touched Mrs. Norris.
Harry: And we don't even know what a Squib is.
Filch: Rubbish! He saw my Kwikspellletter!
Snape: If I might, Headmaster...
(The others turn, watch Snape separate from the shadows)
Snape: Perhaps Graves, Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place atthe wrong time...
(Y/n and the others blink. Could Snape be defending them?)
Snape: However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter and Graves at dinner.
Lockhart: I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus. You see, Harry and Y/n were helping me answer my fan mail...
(As Snape's lip curls in disgust, Hermione leaps in)
Hermione: That's why Ron and I went looking for them, Professor. We'd just found him when Y/n said...
Snape: Yes, Miss Granger?
Y/n: When I said we weren't hungry. We were heading back to the Common Room and... found Mrs. Norris.
(Snape eyes Y/n coldly, knowing he's lying. Y/n looks away... and finds Dumbledore studying him as well)
Dumbledore: Innocent until proven guilty.
Filch: My cat has been Petrified! I want to see some punishment!
Dumbledore: We will be able to cure her, Argus. As I understand it, Madam Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrakes. When they have matured, a potion will be made which will revive Mrs. Norris. In the meantime, I advise caution. To all.
-----Time Skip-----
(Y/n, Harry, Ron and Hermione walk down the corridor)
Ron: A Squib's someone who's born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any powers of their own. It's why Filch is trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course. It's also why he hates students so much. He's bitter.
(Hermione, who's only been half-listening as if trying to unravel something in her mind speaks then)
Hermione: Y/n, Harry. This voice. You said you heard it first in Lockhart's office?
Harry: Yes.
Hermione: And did he hear it?
Y/n: He said he didn't.
Ron: Maybe he was lying.
Hermione: I hardly think someone with Gilderoy Lockhart's credentials would lie to two of his students, Ronald. Besides, if you recall, we didn't hear anything either.
Harry: You do believe us, don't you?
Hermione: 'Course we do. It's just... it's a bit weird, isn't it? You both hear this voice and then... Mrs. Norris turns up Petrified.
Y/n: That is something I can't explain.
Harry: It was... scary. D'you think we should've told them! Dumbledore and the others, I mean.
Ron: Are you mad!
Hermione: No, Harry. Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign.
McGonagall's Classroom
(McGonagall stands before the class. Resting on the desk in front of each student, is a different animal)
McGonagall: Today, we will be turning animals into water goblets.
(She taps the bird in front of her, three times, with the tip of her wand. It transfigures into a beautiful crystal water goblet)
McGonagall: Now, who would like to go first... Mr. Weasley?
(Ron nods. He taps his rat, Scabbers, who turns into a furry goblet with a tail)
McGonagall: You must replace that wand, Mr. Weasley.
(Ron nods sheepishly, looks at his broken wand. McGonagall sees Hermione's raised hand. Her untouched animal)
McGonagall: Yes, Miss Granger?
Hermione: Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?
(A silence falls over the calssroom)
McGonagall: My subject is Transfiguration, Miss Granger.
Hermione: Yes, Professor. But there seems to be very little written about the Chamber of Secrets. For those of us with a personal interest in the subject, that is... disturbing.
(Malfoy regards Hermione with chilly amusement. McGonagall considers Hermione's question for a long moment, then nods)
McGonagall: Very well. You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Three of the founders co-existed quite harmoniously. One did not.
Ron: Three glasses who?
McGonagall: Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, purebloods. Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school. According to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. Shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber of Secrets and unleash the horror within, and by so doing, purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic.
Y/n: Muggle-borns.
McGonagall: Yes. Naturally, the school has been searched many times for such a chamber. It has never been found.
Hermione: Professor, what exactly does legend tell us lies within the Chamber?
McGonagall: The Chamber is said to be home to something which the heir of Slytherin alone can control. It is said to be home... to a monster.
(Ron's eyes shift. Malfoy sits calmly, smiling to himself)
------Time Skip------
(Y/n, Harry, Hermione, and Ron thread their way through the teeming corridor. Up ahead, Malfoy walks with Crabbe and Goyle)
Ron: D'you think it's true? D'you think there really is a Chamber of Secrets?
Hermione: Yes. Couldn't you tell. McGonagall's worried. All the teachers are.
Y/n: Yeah, I mean this place is huge.
Harry: But if there really is a Chamber of Secrets, and it's really been opened, that means...
Y/n: The Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts.
Hermione: The question is, who is it?
Ron: Let's think. Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum.
(Hermione eyes Draco ahead)
Hermione: If you're talking about him-
Ron: Of course! You heard him: "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
Hermione: I heard him. But Malfoy? The Heir of Slytherin?
Y/n: I don't think so, someone as pathetic as Malfoy wouldn't be a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.
Harry: Maybe Ron's right. I mean, look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin for centuries.
Ron: Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle must know. Maybe we could trick them into telling...
Hermione: No. Even they aren't that thick. But there might be another way. Mind you, it would be difficult. Not to mention we'd be breaking about fifty school rules. And it would be dangerous. Very dangerous.
Y/n: When do we start then?
Library
(In a dark nook, Y/n, Harry, Ron and Hermione huddle around a book entitled Moste Potente Potions. The spotted pages are littered with disturbing illustrations)
Hermione: Here it is: "The Polyjuice Potion. Properly brewed, the Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to transform himself temporarily into the physical form of another..."
Ron: You mean, Y/n, Harry and I drink some of this stuff and we turn into Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle?
Y/n: Yes. That's the idea.
Ron: Wicked! Malfoy'll tell us anything!
Hermione: Exactly. But it's tricky. I've never seen a more complicated potion. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed. And, of course, we'll need a bit of whoever we want to change into too.
Ron: Hang on now. I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toe nails in it.
Harry: How long will it take to make?
Hermione: A month.
Harry: A month? But if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin... he could attack half the Muggle-borns in the school by then.
Y/n: Very inspirational Harry.
Hermione: You didn't have to tell me that.
Quidditch Stadium
(A game is going on at the moment. The crowd roars, watching as Slytherin Chasers, bent low over their new brooms, jet past the overmatched Gryffindors)
Hagrid: Gallopin' Gorgons! Slytherin's flyin' like they got dragon firein their brooms...
(Ron fumes, looking as though he takes Slytherin's dominance personally. Taking Hagrid's giant binoculars, he trains them on the faculty box where Lucius Malfoysits next to Snape. Y/n holding the quaffle rockets towards the goals.
Two Slytherin players approach him on each side, Y/n rolls his eyes and once they are close enough and about to kick him, Y/n rolls over so that he's on the underside of his broom. The Slytherins kick each other knocking one of them off of the broom. Y/n flies to the goal and scores again. The Gryffindors cheer. Y/n flies higher and looks at the Slytherins with a smirk)
Y/n: Hey! Good broom's don't mean anything if you are garbage in the game!
(Meanwhile Harry circles high above the pitch, searching for the Golden Snitch. Suddenly, Malfoy streaks by overhead)
Draco: All right there, Scarhead?
(Harry turns, eyes Malfoy malevolently. Behind him, a bludger begins to streak toward his head)
George: HARRY! WATCH OUT!
(Harry wheels and at the last possible moment, slips the whistling Bludger. George swoops down, bats it away. Harry turns, watches it soar away, then blinks, the Bludger turns, streaks right back at him. Harry jets off)
Hagrid: Blimey, Harry's got 'imself a Rogue Bludger!
Ron: Rogue Bludger?
Hagrid: Look fer yerself! It's bin' tampered with!
(Harry executes a series of zigs, zags, loops and rolls, trying to shake the Bludger, but the Bludger is relentless. Ron instinctively draws his wand, begins to point it toward Harry and the Bludger, when... Hermione's hand intercedes. She glances knowingly at his fractured wand)
Hermione: You're joking, right? Besides, even with a proper wand, it's too risky. You could hit Harry.
(Y/n looks at Harry and the bludger while gritting his teeth)
Y/n: Damnit. Can't use magic.
(As Harry frantically dips and dives, Malfoy cruises by)
Draco: Training for the ballet, Potter?
(Harry glances at Malfoy's sneering face. Buzzing inches above Malfoy's left ear is... the golden snitch. Harry charges. Malfoy gulps, swings clear, and watches Harry rocket past. As Harry chases the plummeting Snitch, Malfoy follows in hot pursuit.
They race downward, trailing the hissing snitch deep into the trench circling the pitch. Shoulder to shoulder, they race madly, driving and dodging the wooden support beams that crisscross their path. Directly behind them, the Bludger follows, shattering the beams as it dogs Harry.
Malfoy Kicks Harry, forcing him to the edge of the trench. Harry brushes the wall, battling for control. Malfoy turns, snickers, then looks back... and finds himself heading smack into a wooden beam. Panicked, he tries to pull up. Too late.
Broom meets beam and Malfoy spirals out of the trench and flat on his back in the middle of the pitch. Harry continues on, closing on the Snitch, fingertips only inches from catching it... when... the Rogue Bludger smashes into Harry's arm)
Y/n: Harry!
(Harry cries out, steadies himself and with a brilliant, acrobatic move, snatches the Snitch out of the air with his good hand. Unable to control his broom with his shattered arm, he hits the pitch with a sickening thud. Wincing, Harry rolls onto his shoulders, squints up... a black dot growing rapidly larger is plummeting from the sky, directly toward him.
It's the rogue Bludger. Instantly, Harry spins away, grimacing in agony, as the Bludger hits the ground like a sledge hammer, violently tattooing the pitch again and again, only inches from Harry. Calmly, Hermione strides forth, points her wand)
Hermione: Finite Incantatem!
(The Bludger hangs briefly in the air. Slowly ceases spinning. Drops heavily to the pitch. Harry exhales, relieved, only to recall the searing pain in his arm, Y/n lands nex to Harry and helps him to sit up. As concerned faces swim above him, one particular face pushes through the others)
Lockhart: Not to worry, Harry. I'll fix that arm of yours straight away.
Harry: No... no... not you.
Lockhart: Poor boy doesn't know what he's saying. This won't hurt a bit...
(Lockhart twirls his wand, Harry braces himself, and... nothing. He blinks, looks up, the faces which now include Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid look horror stricken)
Y/n: That is not okay.
Lockhart: Ah. Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. The point is, the bones are no longer broken.
Hagrid: Brok'n? He doesn't 'ave any bones at all!
(Harry looks, his arm looks like an empty rubber glove)
Hospital Wing
(A dazed Malfoy slumps out with Crabbe and Goyle. Y/n and Ron, standing by Harry's bed with Hermione, grins, then watches Madame Pomfrey pour out a steaming beakerful of liquid from a bottle of SKELE-GRO. A group of Gryffindors, including some of his teammates, stand nearby)
Madame Pomfrey: He should have been brought straight to me! I can mend bones in a heartbeat but growing them back-
Hermione: You will be able to, won't you?
Madame Pomfrey: I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful. You're in for a rough night, Potter. Regrowing bones is nasty business.
(Harry takes the steaming cup and drinks. Grimaces)
Madame Pomfrey: Well, what did you expect. Pumpkin juice?
(FLASH! Harry blinks, sees Colin Creevey standing there)
Colin: That was brilliant today, Harry! Brilliant!
Madame Pomfrey: Out! All of you! This boy's got thirty-three bones to regrow!
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M2, CHAPTER 6 IS DONE :)
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Word Count: 2714