Fresh from the pixies, Zoe, Draco, Neville, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked, hair askew and robes shredded.
"Can you believe him?" Draco scoffed.
"I'm sure Professor Lockhart just wanted to give us some hands-on experience." Hermione defended Lockhart.
"Hands on?" Harry questioned. "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing." Harry said.
"Rubbish. Read his books. You'll see all the amazing things he's done." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You are just as delusional as the others who read his books. That pathetic excuse of a man did not do those things. He just used a fake spell and abandoned us to fend for ourselves against the pixies. He needs to be replaced." Zoe scoffed. "Just like Dumbledore." She whispered to Draco, but the others didn't hear that last part.
"She's still delusional." Zoe muttered to her husband.
Hermione gasped in shock. "You don't know what your talking about!" She yelled before marching off. "Stupid pure-blood." She muttered. The Gryffindors followed her.
Harry stayed back. "Thanks for saving us, Zoe. Sorry about Hermione."
Zoe nodded. "She needs to get her attitude fixed or she's going to get herself in trouble that Dumbledore won't be able to save her from."
Harry nodded and left. "That girl does not deserve to be learning magic." Draco muttered.
"No, she doesn't." Zoe agreed.
"How dare you!" Hermione screamed. "I deserve to learn magic just like any one if you!"
"No, you don't!" Zoe yelled as she stood. "Muggleborns learning magic is what's ruining us. It's destroying us." She said.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.
"You'll find out." Zoe said, vaguely, and sat down to continue watching their past.
***
The Gryffindor Quidditch team - Harry, Fred, George, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, and Angelina Johnson - trailed behind Oliver Wood through the courtyard, towards the distant Quidditch pitch.
"I spent the summer devising a whole new Quidditch program. We're going to train earlier, harder, and longer!" Wood bragged, but there was something on the field... or someone. He squinted and realised who was there. "What the... I don't believe it!"
Crossing the courtyard from the other side are seven boys in green robes, also carrying broomsticks. At their lead was Marcus Flint, Slytherin Captain. Ron, sitting at a table with Hermione, looked up.
"Uh-oh. I smell trouble." Ron muttered.
"Clear out, Flint! I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today." Wood yelled.
Flint smirked. "Easy, Wood. I've got a note."
As Wood snatched the parchment from Flint's hand, Ron and Hermione came up to join the others. "I, Professor Severus Snape, do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practice today, due to the need to train their new Seeker." He read, he looked up, confused. "You've got a new Seeker? Who?" Wood questioned.
"My King." Zoe gushed, making blush and the others laugh.
Just then, a blonde boy pushed his way to the front. It was Malfoy with Zoe by his side.
"Draco?" Harry questioned.
"That's right." Draco nodded. "And that's not all that's new this year..." As one, the seven Slytherins held out seven brand-new gleaming broomsticks. The Gryffindors looked stunned.
"Those are Nimbus Two Thousand Ones." Ron gasped.
"A congratulations gift from Papa L." Zoe smiled as she wrapped her arms around Draco's waist.
"That's right, Weasley. You see, unlike some, my Father can afford to buy the best." Draco said.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." Hermione insulted.
"Oh please, Draco actually earned his spot on the team because he is amazing at Quidditch, at least he actually tried out for it unlike Potter who was put on the team in first year because he caught a ball." Zoe defended her boyfriend.
"Besides, no one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." Draco spat out.
Lily and Molly let out a loud gasp at the word. Lily looked at her daughter. "How could be with someone who uses that word!" She yelled. "I am your mother, a muggleborn. Your 'husband' just insulted another muggleborn like me."
"Because muggleborns shouldn't learn magic. They are completely our world, destroying our traditions making it into what they want. Our Wizarding world is where we feel safe, to be able to practice our ways... but now we can't even do that without being called evil... IN OUR OWN WORLD!"
Everyone was silent. But then Molly decided to speak.
"Because the old ways are evil, all the blood sacrifices." She scoffed.
Zoe glared at the woman. "What blood sacrifices? We don't have blood sacrifices. The only time blood is used is for protection spells and to contact loved ones. Clearly you've never understood the old ways despite actually growing up with it. You are a disgrace to magic." Zoe said.
Everyone reacted as if Malfoy has said something horrific everyone except Harry, who looked puzzled. Instantly, Fred and George flew for Draco's throat. Oliver Wood held them back.
"Save it for the match." Wood advised them.
"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" Ron yelled. He whipped out his broken wand. "Eat slugs!" Ron pointed his cracked wand at Malfoy. A bolt of green light came out the wrong end, hitting Ron himself in the stomach. As he dropped to the grass, Hermione ran to him.
"Ron! Say something!" Hermione begged.
Ron opened his mouth and... belched. Hermione drew back, and watched a trio of slugs dribble out his mouth. The Slytherins roared with laughter. Angrily, Ron rose, only to belch again. Fascinated, Colin Creevey ran up with his camera.
Jean screamed loudly at the sight of slugs coming out of Ron's mouth and ran to her grandfather's (Lucius') side and hid her face into his hip. "Slimy!" She yelled. Lucius picked her up into his arms and hugged her tight as she hid her face into his neck, terrified.
"Wow! Can you hold him still, Harry?!" Colin asked, trying to get a picture.
"Is he serious?" Remus asked, watching the scene. Sirius opened his mouth but Remus stopped him. "Don't even think about it Sirius." Sirius pouted and crossed his arms in a huff, like a child.
"Get out of the way, Colin!" Harry pushed him, he looked at Hermione. "Let's take him to Hagrid. He'll know what to do." Hermione nodded and the trio ran, leaving behind the laughing Slytherins and worried Gryffindors.
***
Hagrid rummaged about, looking for something. "Got jus' the thing. Set 'im down on that chair o'er there." He told the trio. As Ron sat, Hagrid pitched a bucket between his knees. Harry and Hermione glanced up questioningly. Hagrid shrugged. "Better out than in. Who was he tryin' ter curse anyway?" He asked.
"Malfoy. He called Hermione, well, I don't know exactly what it means..." Harry paused.
"He called me a Mudblood." Hermione said quietly, looking at Hagrid's window.
"He didn'!" Hagrid gasped.
Harry looked confused. Hermione glanced at him, then away, obviously pained by this. "It means dirty blood." She told him. "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who was Muggle-born. Someone with non-magic parents. Someone... like me. It's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation."
"Yeh see, Harry. There are some wizards - like Malfoy's family - who think they're better than everyone else 'cause they're what people call pureblood." Hagrid said.
"That's horrible." Harry said aloud. "How could my sister be apart of this? Our mother was a muggleborn." He thought.
"She might have given birth to me, but she is not my mother, Narcissa is. She is the one who raised me." Zoe said.
Ron belched forth a slug. "It's disgusting!"
"An' it's codswallop ter boot. Dirty blood. There's 'ardly a wizard today that's not half-blood or less. If we 'adn't married Muggles we'd've died out long ago. Besides, they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can't do..." Hagrid place a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Don' you think on it, Hermione. Don' you think on it fer a minute."
"That statement about dying out is not true. Besides, Granger only does spells that were in the books, spells that everyone knows, she doesn't do the unknown spells or create her own spells. Something, My Queen is an expert at." Draco said, smiling at Zoe.
***
Gilderoy Lockhart's office was lined with framed photographs of... himself. Harry and Lockhart worked by candlelight at an ornate desk. Bleary-eyed, Harry addressed envelopes, while a cheery Lockhart put his signature to the stack of glossy photos which bear his image.
"Urgh, that's torture." Barty said, shielding his eyes.
"Harry, Harry, Harry... Can you possibly imagine a better way to serve detention than by helping me answer my fan mail?" Lockhart smiled. Harry forced a smile. "Fame's a fickle friend, Harry. Celebrity is as celebrity does. Remember that."
Harry nodded, glancing gloomily at the towering stack of envelopes that remain. Dipping his quill, he started to write, when... a chilly voice filled the room.
"Come... come to me..." The voice said.
"Oh shit!" Barty yelled, hiding behind Regulus.
"Why you hiding behind me for?!"
"Protect me!"
"If something is coming at us, I'm sacrificing you and saving myself!".
"Rude!"
"What?" Harry gasped, looking around. But Lockhart thought he was taking to him.
"I was saying, six solid months at the top of the bestseller list! Broke all records!" Lockhart repeated.
Harry shook his head. "No... not you, that... voice."
"Voice?" Lockhart asked.
"That... voice. Didn't you hear it?" Harry questioned, fearing he was starting to go crazy.
"What are you talking about, Harry? I think we're getting a bit drowsy." Lockhart said, then he realised the time. "Great Scott - and no wonder - look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours! Dinners nearly done! If you hurry you might make pudding. Spooky how the time flies when one's having fun!"
"Spooky." Harry said, still looking for where the voice came from, not even listening to Lockhart.
"Spooky, indeed." Sirius agreed.
***
Harry passed quickly through the lengthening shadows of the empty corridor, when... "Blood... I smell blood..." Harry stopped cold, looking around for the source of the voice. "Let me rip you... let me kill you..."
Harry stepped to the wall, playing his fingers along the stone, then began 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.
"Harry!" Hermione yelped.
"Did you hear it?" Harry asked, hoping they would say yes.
"Hear what?" Ron agreed.
"That... voice." Harry shuddered.
"Voice? What voice?" Hermione asked.
Harry's eyes darted around. "I heard it first in Lockhart's office and then again, just..."
"Kill... Time to kill..." The voice spoke again. As Harry stiffened, Hermione and Ron studied him curiously.
"It's moving. I think it's going to... kill." Harry said and ran off. Hermione and Ron exchanged a knowing glance and followed.
Harry watched the scene in anger, they knew exactly what he heard. They made him think he was crazy, when they knew exactly what was happening.
***
Harry dashed madly, taking the steps three at a time. He made the landing and rushed through the archway and sled to a stop, listening: nothing. Slowly, he peered down. Water oozing over the stone floor, surrounding his shoes. His own reflection appeared and, behind it, undulating like a dream... Words. Ron and Hermione came huffing up. "Harry, what are you doing?" Ron huffed. He pointed. Shimmering on the wall are the words he saw reflected in water.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR... BEWARE.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened...?" Hermione read, confused.
"What's that? Hanging underneath?" Ron pointed to the object.
"That's Filch's cat. Mrs Norris." Harry answered. The cat hung stiffly by her tail from a torch bracket, eyes open and blank.
Harry's eyes shifted to the adjacent window: near the topmost pane, spiders scuttled up a silvery thread and fought to get through a crack in the glass. "Look at that." Hermione pointed. "Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" She looked to her side and saw that Ron no longer stood there. "Ron...?" She looked behind and found Ron backing away.
"I... don't... like... spiders." He stuttered.
Suddenly, the stairwell was alive with voices and, seconds later, dozens of students streamed forth, chattering... when they stop, seeing the wall and stood before it, Harry, Ron and Hermione. A thudding silence fell. Then Draco and Zoe pushed forward and eyed the wall. Her eyes remained on the words while Draco grinned.
"Enemies of the heir, beware!" Draco read aloud. He eyed Hermione. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!" He spat just as Filch appeared.
Zoe looked at her husband. "Was really necessary?" She asked.
Draco shrugged. "Just wanted to piss her off."
"What's going on here? Go on now! Make way..." Filch stopped dead... his Mrs Norris... was dead. "Mrs Norris!" He cried, he turned and saw Harry. "You! You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll..." Filch took a step towards him but Zoe stood in between.
"Back off Filch. It wasn't him." Zoe defended Harry. "Come near him and I'll kill you."
"Then it was you, you snake! I'll kill you!" Filch yelled and went after her.
"Argus!" Dumbledore marched forward, trailed by a phalanx of teachers. Seeing the wall, Dumbledore's face darkened.
"Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately." Dumbledore demanded, then turned to the trio. "Everyone except you three."
"Thanks." Harry whispered to his sister (who gave him a small nod) before she left.
"Thanks." Harry repeated.
"How many times you going to say that?" She asked.
"Every time." Harry shrugged and smiled.
As the corridor emptied, Dumbledore stepped to the wall and, with extreme gentleness, removed Mrs Norris.
"It was definitely a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian Torture. Encountered it myself once, in Ouagadougou. The full story is in my autobiography..." Lockhart rambled about himself but was cut off by Dumbledore.
James groaned. "Shut up man!" He yelled at the screen.
"She's not dead, Argus. She's been petrified." He reassured the caretaker.
"Precisely! So unlucky I wasn't there. I know the very counter-curse that could have spared her..." Lockhart rambled.
"No, you don't! Why are you lying!" Sirius yelled.
"But how she's been Petrified... I cannot say." Dumbledore muttered.
Filch pointed at Harry. "Ask him! It's him that's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall! Besides, he knows I'm - I'm a Squib."
"It's not true, sir! I swear! I never touched Mrs Norris - And I don't even know what a Squib is." Harry panicked. He didn't hurt Mrs Norris, he needed them to know that.
"Rubbish! He saw my Kwikspell letter!" Filch yelled.
"If I might, Headmaster..." The others turned and watched Snape separate from the shadows. "Perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time..." Snape suggested. Could Snape be defending them? Harry and the others blinked. "However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter at dinner."
Lockhart stepped forward. "I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus. You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail..."
As Snape's lip curled in disgust, Hermione leaped in. "That's why Ron and I went looking for him, Professor. We'd just found him when Harry said..." She stopped herself.
"Yeah, throw him under the bus, why don't you?" Scorpius muttered.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
Harry stepped forward. "When I said I wasn't hungry. We were heading back to the Common Room and... found Mrs Norris."
Snape eyed Harry coldly, knowing he's lying. Harry looked away... and found Dumbledore studying him as well.
"Innocent until proven guilty." Dumbledore said.
"Not when it comes to Slytherin, it's always guilty with no chance to prove innocence." Young Severus said.
"My cat has been Petrified! I want to see some punishment!" Filch cried.
"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." Dumbledore warned.
***
Zoe entered her dorm. "Sally!" She called out.
The Slytherins laughed. "You call Salazar Slytherin, one of Hogwarts' founders, 'Sally'?" Barty asked.
Zoe shrugged. "Yeah." She nodded. "I call Godric 'Ric', Helga 'Helly' and Rowena 'Ro'."
"Must you call me that, young one?" Salazar asked.
"Salazar's too long." Zoe shrugged. "Anyway, I have something to tell you.
"The chamber's been opened." Salazar said.
Everyone gasped. "How'd he know?" Scorpius asked.
"How'd you know?" Zoe gasped.
Scorpius smiled at the fact that he said the same thing as his mother.
Salazar smiled. "I felt it."
"Damn, I didn't know you could really feel things as a portrait." Zoe said.
"Our portraits were made with our magic, it's embedded. So, apart of us reside within out portraits. We're real, we feel and sense things as if we were truly alive." Salazar said.
"Fascinating." Zoe mumbled.
"Besides, now that the chamber is open. I need you to do something as my heir." Salazar said. Zoe nodded. "I need you to find the chamber and check on my familiar."
"The monster in the Chambers was his familiar." Harry gasped.
Zoe smacked his shoulder. "Asmodeus is not a monster." She said.
"Okay." She nodded. "Where do I find him?" She asked.
***
Zoe looked at each sink, looking for Salazar's symbol. "There you are." Zoe whispered, finding a snake.
"Who's there? Come to make fun of Myrtle." Moaning Myrtle said.
"Myrtle, it's just me, Zoe." Zoe said.
"You've met her before?" Harry asked.
"I met her in first year, I've been visiting her ever since." Zoe told him. "When we met, she said 'great another pretty girl to make fun of me.' So, I thanked her for calling me pretty and that not all pretty girls were the same, I made it my mission to prove my point."
"Hi Zoe. What are you doing here?" Myrtle asked.
"Here on a secret mission."
"Oh okay. I'll leave you to it." Myrtle giggled and disappeared into her toilet.
"Note to self... renovate second floor bathroom." She thought to herself. She stood in front of the sink and spoke in Parseltongue. "Open for Slytherin's heir." The circular group of sinks opened and a large, open pipe was exposed. She looked down. "As fun as sliding would be, this is not clean." She muttered. "Stairs." She said in Parseltongue. The slide transformed into stairs. "Perfect." She smiled and began her long descent into darkness.
Once she got to the bottom she came face-to-face with a towering stone wall, carved with twin serpents. "Open." She said in Parseltongue. The serpents parted and the giant wall slid open. She saw a vast chamber stretched ahead. Along the path are rows of stone serpents. The serpents rested in pools of black water. Ahead was an enormous statue of Salazar Slytherin. "Wow." She gasped.
She thought back to Salazar's words. "Remember to show your power, only then will Asmodeus accept you."
Zoe stood in front of Salazar statue. "Reveal yourself." She spoke in Parseltongue.
"Asmodeus?" She heard her voice ask as Salazar's mouth opened.
"My Basilisk." Salazar answered as Asmodeus, the Basilisk slithered out and let out a loud roar.
"Wow." The Slytherins said.
"He's beautiful." Narcissa said.
"He is. I absolutely love him; he is such a sweetheart." Zoe said.