"Where is it?"
"I didn't take it! My one is gone too! Oh, dear Merlin!"
"That is impossible! Someone must have taken it!"
Maybelle heaved a large sigh when she finally sneaked out of the Ravenclaw dorms with an unusually large bag. It was past curfew and her bag was making unwanted tinkling noises. The Ravenclaw dorms could be heard all across the corridor. The girls inside were going through some serious crisis having no mirrors to do whatever they do with mirrors. The sole reason behind such a tragic incident was the one and only Maybelle.
She couldn't really help but steal all their mirrors. It was in fact a life and death situation. Her next mission was to go to the owlery and collect her favourite rooster, Jet, who would probably die tonight.
She waved her hand on top of the bag to cast a silencing spell on it. Her main goal was to avoid the perfects as much as possible. She didn't worry about Tom. He didn't even know about the chamber of secrets till the beginning of his fifth year.
Her quiet footsteps echoed throughout the empty corridors. The way to the owlery had many twists and turns from the Ravenclaw wing. She passed the kitchen, where she could hear the house-elves cleaning the dishes. She had quite the popularity among them as she was almost a regular midnight customer for leftover food.
She started chanting in her mind repeatedly that she won't stop to grab a snack. Unfortunately, as soon as the sweet aroma of cookies invaded her nostrils, she took a sharp U-turn. Her feet carried her to the back door of the kitchen.
She peeked inside the warm area where at least a dozen of house-elves were chatting and washing dishes. As if they could already sense her presence, all of them turned their heads towards their favourite visitor at the same time.
"Miss Maybelle!" One of the little ones cheered.
Maybelle quickly entered inside and closed the doors behind her. She beamed at the cute creatures and greeted them one by one.
"We have saved the special chocolate chip cookies for miss Maybelle! We were waiting patiently for her," another one exclaimed and hopped off the kitchen counter.
"Okay! But I am in a hurry today. How about I take it with me?" Maybelle asked and all the elves hummed in excitement.
"Miss Maybelle is looking for trouble~" an elf named Folen said in a sing-song voice only to earn a sharp slap on the back of his head by another elf.
"She's just going for an exciting adventure," said a female elf while handing her a few cookies wrapped in a clean handkerchief," Tell us about it after you return. We hope the cookies will give miss Maybelle strength."
Maybelle took the food carefully in her hand while thanking her wonderful elves. She quickly made an exit and continued her journey towards the owlery.
The cookies were absolutely wonderful! By the time she reached her destination, she had only three left in her pouch. Her face as well as her nightgown was covered in crumbs. But it was way past curfew and she could care less about being spotted like that. Though she was sure that Ignis and Jet would give her a few judgemental looks.
She suddenly felt a weight on her shoulders. Her eyes met the sky blue orbs of her beloved owl. Her red feathers almost looked dark purple under the soft moonlight. The owl hooted lovingly and nudged her face into her cheek. Maybelle giggled softly and took out another cookie. She broke it in half and earned a hoot of protest from Ignis.
"Hey, sharing is caring. Either get half or the whole thing will go to Jet," she warned and the poor owl took the haft cookie anyway. Maybelle started looking around for her black rooster. It was nearly impossible to find him when it was night.
She started making tutting noises with her tongue while waving the half cookie in the air. It almost looked like she was summoning some kind of cookie monster from the depths of hell.
Out of nowhere, a black mass jumped on her shoulder. She almost screamed but noticed that it was her beloved rooster after all. She crashed the cookie into bits and brought her palm to him. Jet looked quite content in getting some midnight snack.
"Ah, I taught you well, my child. Now eat up! We need to be prepared," she instructed.
"Prepared for what, miss Maybelle?"
"Whoa, Jet! I didn't know you could talk!" She exclaimed in awe and shoved a whole cookie inside her mouth, which she regretted in the next second because it was too much.
"I'm afraid that it was not your rooster that spoke."
"Wha?"
She slowly turned around towards the source of the voice. To be honest, she was not really surprised to see Hogwarts golden boy standing right behind her. Her life had become like that. Tom always managed to find her in the worst possible scenarios.
She wanted to throw some witty comment at him but her mouth was occupied with chewing the abnormally large cookie. She was sure that she looked like some pufferfish at the moment but Tom had seen worse.
"We have to stop meeting like this, miss Wright," he snarked at her. His eyes were fixed on the raven feathered rooster who was eating the last bits of cookie crumb from her palm.
"How about I lead you towards your dorms so that you do not find yourself more distractions," he said again.
Maybelle raised an eyebrow at him. She stuck her index finger in the air to ask for a minute. With great effort, she chewed down the cookie. She took a few steps closer towards the boy in order to intimidate him, which probably didn't work much.
"I should be the one to ask you, Mr. Riddle. Why do you always end up in the same place as me at an absolute odd time like a creepy stalker?"
Tom's gaze was fixed on her crumb filled mouth. He looked quite angry as he didn't know how to answer her question. He was on his way to send a secret letter to some associate he had met in the beginning of the year before coming to Hogwarts.
He wanted to do it in complete secrecy. But the girl just had to ruin all of his plans.
"I do not owe any explanations to you, Ms. Wright. Please do refrain from calling me a creepy stalker. Your odd language is certainly concerning," he stated calmly but Maybelle could hear the underlying anger in his voice.
"Whatever. Just do what you came for and leave me alone!"
Tom stoic expression seemed to falter for a second making the girl almost smile in triumph.
The harsh winter breeze was the only sound in between them for a few moments. But those few moments were enough for Maybelle to realise she was not wearing many warm clothes. Her exposed arm and legs were immediately coated in goosebumps. She doubted that Tom would give her his warm cloak.
"Well, I'll be on my way back. See you.....never. I guess," she whispered the last part and grabbed Jet with one hand. Her other hand was still occupied with the last precious cookie.
"I'll walk with you."
Sneaky little snake!
"You must stop calling me names, Ms. Wri-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Maybelle swiftly turned back and shoved her last cookie inside his mouth. The look on his face was absolutely priceless. He didn't even look angry. His pools of dark eyes were big, he stumbled a few steps back in order to gain his balance again. His cheeks were puffed up with the excess amount of food making him look like a puppy.
Oh my gosh, that's so adorable.
Maybelle gushed inside her head but soon remembered that he could hear everything. So, without sparing him any more seconds, she dashed into the darkness with a small wave of her hand as a farewell.
She didn't want to look back and see his angry face. She would probably end up being murdered by him but not before she could finish her mission.
••••••••••••••••••
Maybelle was standing in front of the infamous basin of the girl's washroom. Her slender fingers traced the snake engraved in the body of the metallic faucet.
Okay, now what? I don't speak the snake language.
She wanted to smash her own skull against the cracked walls. How could she not think about that?
I can always break the wall...
That would obviously not work. Salazar Slytherin was definitely not that dense to hide his secret lair behind a breakable wall. It was surely protected with death traps and curses which she did not want to go through one bit.
Another idea popped in her head like a light bulb going off. She could always try the language they showed in the movie! Though her memory was a bit rusty, she could still remember Ron Weasley muttering some random hisses to open the Chamber of Secrets.
Her free hand twisted the rusty handle of the faucet ever so slowly. She wanted to do it fast but couldn't help but be nervous. Well, not every day does she have to face the king of the beast and defeat it with a rooster.
She started to back away when the walls began to move and create a path for her that lead to the Chambers of Secrets. It almost looked like the movies, only ten times worse. She could already smell the rotten things down there.
Jet started flapping his wings violently. Maybelle petted his feather in a soothing way to calm him down. She took a deep breath and stepped towards the horrible slide. Drops of water fell on her wild brown hair.
Her shoes hovered above the rough surface that inclines down towards the mysterious dark cave. She knew she should've asked for help. At least, informed someone of her secret mission. If anything would happen down there, no one would even discover her dead body.
Just so that she won't get the chance to back away, she swung her body forward.
The slide was not really a slide. The surface was very rough and she was descending down at an uncontrollable speed due to gravity. She could hear the fibres of her thin nightgown tear apart. Her bare arms were burning like it was set on fire. She tucked her head in between her arms and waited for a crash landing on numerous skeletons.
It came sooner than she expected. The smell was the first thing that hit her face. But she didn't have the time to react. The next second, she felt as if thousands of daggers were buried into her back.
She could hear several crunches below her but didn't know whether it was the skeletons or her own ribs. She wheezed out a painful grunt when her rooster landed on her face.
"Jet, I want to die. Please, kill me....," Maybelle managed to whimper out. The pain was unbearable.
She didn't know how long she was just laying on the ground but when she finally got up, her body screamed in protest.
"Okay, I don't feel anything broken. Only deep cuts and large gashes. I can do this!"
She opened her overly large satchel and took out the numerous number of hand mirrors she managed to steal. Well, most of them were broken, nothing a little magic couldn't fix.
She lifted her hands up in the air and winced slightly when her open cuts got stretched. She puffed her cheeks and waved her hands over her collection of mirrors. Within seconds, the mirrors started to fix themselves and float on air.
Jet croaked at the flying objects in alert only to be hushed by the witch. She slowly started approaching the famous entrance to the chamber.
Okay, I got this!
••••••••••••••••
Maybelle couldn't help but fangirl in front of the huge door with the bearded man engraved on it. It was one of those moments which she wanted to be a part of almost her entire life.
She closed her eyes and went over the scene when Ron Weasley was speaking parseltongue. Her lips parted and she fixed her hard gaze at the gold plated door in front of her. Strange hissing sounds filled the grave silence of the cave.
She waited for a minute. Nothing out of the usual happened. She waited for some more but the gate remained closed. A defeated sigh escaped her lips and her shoulder slumped down.
What was she even expecting? Whatever she said might have meant something absurd in parseltongue. Maybe the translation was something like, I like eating smelly socks.
"I think I should try to blast it. What do you say, Jet? But then again we have to be prepared for a huge basilisk on the other side..." She trailed off. She was really out of ideas. The only thought that came to her was to try and blast it with her magic.
She took a deep breath and reached around the back of her neck to unclasp her necklace.
If I want to do it, might as well do it with full power.
She hid the ornament inside her now-empty satchel and braced herself for the pain that she was about to feel.
It was like an ant bite in the beginning so she tried her best to ignore it. She raised her palms in the air and let her magic flow all around her. Her hair started floating all around her as if she was underwater.
With a deep breath, she sent a blast of powerful magic towards the gate. The whole tunnel shook dangerously like it would all come down on her any moment. She almost doubted that the whole school was aware of the booming noise. Dust and pieces of concrete created a thick smokescreen which prevented her from seeing whether her plan worked or not.
It was quite a surprise to find Jet still firmly sitting on her shoulder, as if ready to face the villain of the day.
Maybelle didn't wait for the smokescreen to be cleared up. She raised her left hand in the air and all the mirrors created a protection wall in front of her.
When everything settled down, it was only silence within the walls. It was deadly. She could almost feel the killer beast lurking in the darkness, waiting for a chance to pounce on her.
She couldn't decide whether she should be happy or worried to see the gaping hole in the place right beside the huge door. She totally had to work more on her aim.
"Okay, Jet. This is it. Now, I want you to crow as loud as you can when you see that mean basilisk, okay?"
She might have appeared like a crazy person but her fear regarding the near future erased all normal thoughts that she had. She was not even sure that she would make it that far.
She bounced on her tippy toes a couple of times to build up her confidence and started approaching the gaping hole on the wall. Her wall of mirror floated in front of her to receive the deathly glare of the golden-eyed snake.
A sharp hiss of warning cut through the air as soon as she entered the famous Chamber of Secrets. Jet straightened up immediately. Maybelle almost fainted due to her nerves.
She took a few more steps while chanting words of confidence inside her head. She made it to the very centre of the Chamber and let out a nervous breath that she had been holding in.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood and a cold shiver run down her spine. She could feel the hot breath almost burning her back. The stench from its mouth was enough to send her into a comatose state. It was at that moment she knew that the great beast was just behind her.
She squeezed her eyes shut and in the next second, she send all her mirrors in its direction. But the Basilisk was smarter. It didn't take much to shatter each and every piece of glass just with a flick of its tail.
Maybelle cried out in pain as sharp shards of mirror pierced the smooth skin of her palms that was held in front of her face. But she didn't let that slow her down. The adrenaline running in her body automatically set her brain into a flight mood.
She dashed across the large chamber while sending blasts of powerful magic at the huge snake. Her cheeks glistened with tears and her breaths came out in short gasps. The slight burning in her chest was almost unbearable by the time she managed to hide behind a pillar.
She knew that snake was near. She sent one last blast of magic in a desperate attempt to slow it down. To her horror, Jet was nowhere to be seen.
The basilisk was closing in on her. She didn't know what to do. This just couldn't be the end. She had a lot more to do. She had to return Voldemort's favour. She had to change the future. The lives of thousands of people depended on her. But she was helpless like she had always been.
When the Basilisk was mere seconds away from killing her, a sudden turn of events took place.
It was happening in slow motion. The Basilisk had its huge jaw wide open to devour her fragile body. But at the last second, a small cloud of black flew towards the great beast. Its size was almost laughable compared to the huge snake but, Jet was not worried about that.
The walls of the Chamber echoed with the loud crowing of her dear rooster. Even the Basilisk was surprised. In the next second, an ear-shattering screech tore through the place making Maybelle cover her ears.
The body of the beast twisted in odd angles.
"Jet! No!" She screamed out but it was too late. The basilisk collapsed on top of her rooster with a last twitch of pain and then everything was silent once again.
Maybelle ran towards the snake and tried to push its heavy body to rescue Jet. She never thought that the rooster would suddenly do something like that. No matter what, she had grown fond of Jet in the span of three days.
The basilisk was too heavy and the pain in her chest was not making it easier for her to remove the giant beast. Her sobs raked her body and despair ate her heart. It wasn't an exaggeration but losing a pet can be very tough.
She collapsed in a heap of pain and tiredness beside the dead body. She stayed like that for a long time. She only managed to get up when she knew she had only a few hours before school started.
With a hand tightly pressed on top of her chest, she stood up on her feet. She dragged herself out of the dreadful place. She didn't want to look back. So, she waved her hand and with the last bit of strength, she set the dead body on fire.
"Forgive me, great best. I just had to do it to save the lives of the innocent," she whispered.
Her hand fumbled within the depths of her satchel and retrieved the necklace that glowed softly in the darkness of the tunnels. She clasped it around her neck and breathed in. The pain was just a numb throbbing by then.
A single stray tear escaped her eyes and just like that she exited the Chamber of Secrets.