(Y/n)'s POV
The next few days went by, and the talk of the school was still the attack, not like I can blame them, it was fresh in my mind too, the gripping feeling of anxiety, nervousness and raw fear was still scarred in my mind.
Hermione spent much more of her time in the library, it surprised me she didn't sleep in it too, of course, I helped her find as much as we could about something she was looking for, and she could become... really irritable when she couldn't find answers, the attack really had an effect on her.
I was supposed to meet with Harry in the Potions classroom, and together we were supposed to meet up with Ron. I was held back because Blaze had a tantrum about wanting more fire, so I had to stay a bit.
When I found Harry, he was talking with the boy from Herbology, I couldn't exactly remember his name, I believe it was something like 'Justin'.
I approached them to, well, say hi, and let Harry know I found him, but as soon as I got close, Justin got startled, and ran away.
"Uh... w-what?" Harry looked at me, weirded out, too, by the reaction of the Hufflepuff student,
"I don't know, he looked off, too." Said Harry, I tried to pay it no mind, and we started to walk towards the library.
Harry had more in common with Ron, in a sense, they both liked quidditch, and they both spent more time together. Harry and I started to have more things in common after he spent half of the summer in my house.
We would talk about what videogames he would like to play, or books, though, he didn't read too much, at least he read more than Ron. But nowadays, there was one topic we would often talk about.
"Have you heard it?" I asked,
"No, I haven't heard it since the attack, it's starting to worry me, you?" He asked back.
"No, I've had my ears stuck to the walls, but I couldn't hear a thing... maybe it takes too much energy from it to attack?"
"I don't know, but one thing's for sure, it's going to attack again," Said Harry, the fact that we were the only ones who could hear it, made us to become closer, not everyone can understand how it feels to hear a murderous-sickly-evil voice in your ear, after all.
We arrived at the library, which had what seemed to be infinite shelves and books, all with all sorts of things except the ones you were actually searching for, apparently...
At least Hermione and I were able to find out a few things about the Rosiers, but not much was on sight.
In one of the many tables, we found Ron, who was desperately measuring his homework, specifically, his History of Magic homework, a subject that was even more boring than Herbology. I couldn't even begin to count how many times I've fallen asleep on it.
"I'm still eight inches short... and Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing is small" Ron was complaining about the homework. Honestly, I would've too, I had to stay awake most of the night to finish the bloody paper.
Still, I felt bad for him, but Hermione always told me to not hand them the answers just like that, in her words, 'They'll never learn that way!', but... I couldn't really say no to my friends.
"(Y/n)! Mate... Hermione won't lend me her homework, please let me have a quick look at yours."
"Uh.... I-I don't know, Ron... you know what Hermione thinks about it," It felt bad, but I didn't want Hermione to be upset with me, she's already been having it rough, with the whole attack, looking around the library even more.
"Come on (Y/n)! She's not around, no one will notice it! Please..." I looked around, and... well, he was right, there was no one around, and besides, I had to help him, that's what friends do, right?
"Oh, alright... just don't exactly copy it, I don't want the whole thing with Professor McGonagall's homework to happen again with another teacher," I took my parchment out, and handed it to him.
He seemed to cheer up immediately, grabbed my parchment, and started to write, or that's what he tried, at least, until we heard someone who appeared from between one of the bookshelves, her hands full of books that looked to have at least a thousand pages each.
"(Y/n)!" Hermione's voice was sharp as she approached us, really pushing the limits of what it means to whisper, "You said you wouldn't help him! What's the point of coming here if you're going to hand him your work anyway?"
She placed the bunch of books she was carrying on the table we were sharing, I'm surprised it didn't break it.
"W-Well, I just –" I stammered, but she cut me off,
"You what? You were helping him cheat, again?" Blimey, she looked really pissed, no, even worse, disappointed, "You can't just give in every time he asks you about it, if he's not going to put in the effort, then what's the point?"
"I'm not cheating! It's just... inspiration!" I facepalmed at his response, sometimes he could improvise very well, other times... "Besides, we've got other things to worry about than History of Magic, did you forget what happened to Mrs Norris?"
"I haven't forgotten, actually," She snapped at Ron, "but school work is just as important, how is he going to pass this year if you don't at least put the effort to make him understand?"
"Honestly, (Y/n), I thought after everything, you'd know better," That made me feel bad, but also a bit annoyed, was it really that bad? Yeah, sure, maybe I could've tried to teach him, but I didn't want him to be mad at me too.
"Always a lecture with this one, isn't it?" Ron mumbled, I mentally groaned, he had really bad timing sometimes.
"And you!" Again, pushing the limits of what whispering means, "If you spent half as much time paying attention in class as you do complaining, you wouldn't need anyone else's parchment!" Ron slouched back in his seat, mumbling something I couldn't quite hear.
Harry tried to add something to the conversation, and with a calm voice, said,
"Hermione, it's not like copying a few inches of homework is going to stop us from figuring out what's really going on,"
"That's not the point, Harry!" Hermione looked really freaked out, it was weird to see her like this in any other instance that wasn't the end of the year exams, "If you take shortcuts for something as simple as homework, how are we supposed to solve anything out?"
I tried doing what Professor Snape told me, to open my senses that were barely closed as of now, he tried to explain it in a way I could understand, but I'm more of a visual learner, if Hermione can make me pass Herbology is mainly because of that, and she has more patience than Snape...
What I could figure out, though, was the feeling, Legilimency was a lot like a muscle, in a way, as of now I could notice when my head was protected and when it wasn't, it was a weird feeling, like... a wet warm blanket in your head.
The thing was, I mostly had to do it consciously, like tensing a muscle... now that I think about it, it makes no sense, maybe I should come up with a better analogy...
Anyways! My senses were opened and I tried to maintain control, but as I expected, it wasn't easy. I wanted to focus only on her, but I ended up feeling everything they felt at that moment and it hit me like an avalanche.
In that instant, a tight feeling in my chest took over my senses, as if I was running out of air, and behind it, I could feel a certain taste, like the one I felt with Snape on my lessons, it wasn't hard to know what it was and from who it came, it was Harry.
He felt... worried, probably because of all the bickering and arguing Ron and Hermione were making.
When I focused on Ron, I immediately knew it was anger or annoyance, because my throat started to slowly burn. I assimilated it to the taste of that rare sweet Harry and I tasted... and we ended up spitting fire because of the spiciness.
What I wasn't expecting was the shower of cold water that ran through my back, it was frozen, and I recognised it, because it reminded me of what I felt in the forbidden forest a year ago.
It was fear, and it came from someone I wasn't expecting, Hermione. She was terrified, and I think I knew why. I felt the same, in a sense, I couldn't exactly describe the taste that gripped my throat, but it made me feel like it was closing.
It made me feel awful, because I realised just now, she was struggling to keep it together, to not run, she was probably going to reach some kind of limit soon, and I shouldn't leave her feeling alone right now, I can't.
"Hermione –"
"What?" She said, in a sharp tone that surprised me a bit, but I braced myself, and just talked.
"We're all scared, Hermione," Her eyes turned a bit softer, so I kept on, "we're all on edge, the whole attack thing is concerning, but... maybe, and this is a big 'maybe', we could all ease up a bit?"
"I'm just trying to make sure we're all ready... we don't know for certain if something like this will happen again," Her whole demeanour changed, I could see her more nervous now.
"Even if it happens again," Chimed in Harry, "We're all in this together, the four of us, didn't you say that last year?"
"Yeah, I understand you're scared, but all of us are in this, and Blaze backs us up, too," I smiled at her, nodding to Blaze in my shoulder, the only thing she did was move her head quizzically, and in a very cute way, which helped Hermione, as I saw her smiling, looking more relaxed.
"Oh... alright, just... don't let him copy the whole parchment," Her words were less sharp and her eyes weren't as angry anymore, I could see her usual bossy attitude coming back on.
"Promise," I offered her my pinky, she stared at my hand for a bit, and after a second, I said,
"Uh... you don't know what a pinky promise is?"
"Of course I do, it's just I've never done one before..." I smiled, grabbed her hand, and made it so that she extended her pinky.
"See, this is how you do it," I locked my pinky with her own, "I promise I won't let them just copy my homework anymore, and to seal the promise," With my other hand, I grabbed her thumb, as I pushed my own into her thumb, our knuckles touching-
"I didn't know this part," She said, looking perplexed at what our hands were doing.
"Oh, it's something my parents do, they won't do this part with me, though," I explained,
After hearing this, it felt like something made sense on her head, and quickly pulled her hand away, also looking away.
"Anyways!" She said, her voice a higher pitch than normal for a second. I didn't give it much attention as she kept on talking, "Please don't let them take advantage of your inability to say no, honestly, you should learn by now..." I laughed.
I tried to think about something else to talk about, now that the whole arguing was defused, my eyes were immediately drawn to the books she brought to the table, seeing Hermione Granger with books was the norm, but she seemed frustrated by something, her eyebrows frowning as she looked over at the books.
"S-So, uh, did you find what you were looking for?" She let out a very frustrated groan.
"As a matter of fact, no, I haven't, it's so infuriating! All the copies of Hogwarts: A History are gone, and there's a waiting list for two weeks!"
"What were you looking for?" Asked Harry, though, I could already imagine what she wanted to find.
"The same reason everyone wants it, obviously, to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets." Just hearing the name reminded me of the anxiety and nervousness I felt when I found Mrs Norris, and how it got worse when everyone just stared at me.
"There's a legend for it?" I managed to ask,
"Yes, but I just can't remember it, I should've at least read it five more times, I can't believe I can't remember something so simple," I patted her shoulder, and before we could continue, the bell rang, signalling it was time for History of Magic, or, better said, the class for sleeping.
Said class wasn't really important at all, I was almost falling asleep the whole time, the more you try not to, the more sleepy you get.
That was, until Hermione raised her hand to ask Professor Binns something, which made me sit up straight, and put my full attention on the Professor, because I had a feeling of what she wanted to ask him.
"Miss...?"
"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione, sitting up straight, with a clear voice, not even stuttering one bit.
"My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, Miss Grant, not myths and legends," He cleared his throat to keep on talking about something I didn't really pay attention to, but as always, Hermione didn't disappoint, and raised her hand again.
"Miss Grant?" Really? She just told him her name, oh, well, whatever.
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?" That's true, most Greek mythology came from that, although, given that magic does exist, does that mean most mythology is real too? I'll have to ask Dad about that–
I was getting distracted again, I shook my head, and again focused my attention on Professor Binns, who just started to talk about the Chamber.
"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago, by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin."
It seemed to be a longer tale than I expected, but my attention was picked, that name was oddly familiar.
"They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution,"
Well, nowadays there's some kids that are afraid of me, apparently, so I don't think it changed that much.
"For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others"
"Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy.
"After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school, reliable sources tell us this much, but they have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets."
"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy of magic."
Oh, of course the first ever Muggle-Hater had to have the name of my Dad, I guess that confirms my Dad's family were one of those extremists...
Professor Binns tried to get back into his subject, but Hermione's hand shot through the air once more, startling the Professor again.
"Sir, what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?"
"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the heir of Slytherin alone can control," After that sentence, everything made sense in my head.
I couldn't hear Professor Binns anymore, or anyone, for that matter, my head was filled with thoughts, that's the reason why I was feeling like that when Mrs Norris was petrified.
There really was something going through the walls, a monster, that's why I picked it up by instinct, because I didn't know it was there. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to pass my closed mind doors – which to be honest, wasn't hard at all, I was like an open window.
But... just what on earth could form such disgusting and powerful thoughts? It wasn't mindless, not at all, only something intelligent could even begin to have such hatred in their voice.
After Hermione's questions, the class went back to its normal subjects, because Professor Binns grew tired of answering about the Chamber, and I went back to my sleep, or at least, tried to, without much success.
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After the class ended, the four of us went to the common room to leave our bags, and Ron started to talk.
"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony, but I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home..." Hermione nodded, but Harry looked awkward.
Honestly, I felt I had to say it, so I spoke.
"Well... the hat did consider Slytherin for me," They all looked at me in shock, "W-What?"
"Oh, nothing, it's just surprising, to be honest." Said Hermione, clearly shocked at what I said, "I can't really imagine you in a house full of people like that,"
"Yeah mate, compared to all those loonies in Slytherin, you look nothing like them," Said Ron, Harry was fervently nodding.
"Oh, yeah, I kind of see your point, I suppose... but I think it had to do more with something else," I took a big breath, I had to prepare myself, because I felt it, it was time to tell them, they had a right to know, too, just like Hermione did.
Harry and Ron were looking at me, Hermione, I suppose she had a bit of an idea as to what I was about to do.
"I think... it had more to do with the fact that my Dad is a Rosier," Neither did Harry and Ron said a thing, just looked at me, I got nervous, and continued, "I-I didn't know until very recently, for some reason, Dad never told me before, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys bef-"
I was interrupted, as Harry looked at me, with a smile, and I was left confused.
"Yeah, we could figure out as much," W-What?
"H-How?" I asked, this time was Ron's turn to answer.
"We're not idiots, suddenly you were looking about them, and they're not exactly one of the most famous families, I don't know why you kept it this long, though, there's nothing you can do to become anything close to those Slytherin gits"
"He's right, no matter what you do, you're still you, the guy who can't even squash a fly without feeling bad about it," Said Harry, and they laughed, I was embarrassed, but at the same time, I felt happy, I... really made good friends.
We kept on walking, talking about random things, going to the Great Hall, though Harry apparently was walking slower, as I approached him, I heard Colin's familiar voice. The small kid was standing next to him, talking quickly, though I couldn't hear all of it.
"...In my class has been saying your friend is –" His eyes met mine, and he let out a small gasp, and left.
I could picture what he was trying to say, it's been the talk of most first years who see me, I don't even know why, I don't look too scary, do I?
"Do I look that scary?" They looked at me, and tried comforting me, or, well, Harry and Hermione tried, Ron wasn't all that good with that sort of stuff.
After walking around, trying to get to our destination, we turned a corner, and found ourselves in the same corridor where it happened, the words 'The Chamber has been opened' still glued to the wall.
It seemed like someone tried to clean it off, many, many times, and possibly with all the means possible, but failed to do so.
Me, personally, hated being here, this corridor was already some sort of anxiety inducing place, just being in it made me feel nervous, like it was wrong of me to be here, my chest felt tight, and I could feel my breathings going faster.
I was unlucky, because, in a three against one vote, we decided to investigate, going into the bathroom, though, it was worth it, as I learned, with a really high pitched scream, that Ron was terrified of spiders.
Hermione and Harry tried not to laugh, I didn't, he had laughed many times to my fear of heights.
We went into the bathroom, because apparently, the wetness of the floor that day came from there. Ron reluctantly agreed, after Hermoine said there would be no one there because it was Myrtle's bathroom.
That was another reason why I didn't want to go in.
Myrtle got all weird as soon as she saw me and made me feel nervous, Harry and Ron laughed at me, and Hermione, once again, acted weird. Honestly, I just wanted to eat dinner and sleep, too much stimulation for one day.
Blaze wasn't helping much either, she spent most her day sleeping, and she wasn't all the time with me anymore, staying on my bed, and scorching it a bit, is that what they call puberty?
Well, we barely managed to get some answers out of Myrtle, with her acting all weird, at least she didn't want to die again, apparently, that's something that happens with her often. But also because Ron's brother, Percy, told us to go away, while glaring at me in a really rude way.
After he deducted some points from us, we reluctantly left for dinner, with Ron really pissed at his brother, something about him not caring about Ginny and stuff like that. To be completely honest, I just wanted to leave the place all together.
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After dinner, the four of us were in the common room, purposely choosing the seats that were as far as the rest of the other students, Blaze was with me now, as apparently, she got enough sleep, though, she slept most of the day, I don't even know how she could sleep at night.
I was happily checking The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, because I was finishing up my Charms homework, well, the four of us were. One would think it would be boring, but it wasn't, Charms was one of my favourite classes, if not my favourite.
I wasn't going to enjoy it much, though, as Ron cut the silence, slamming the book shut, and scaring me in the process, and also startling Blaze.
It was annoying, yeah, but it wasn't all that much, so I didn't say anything, surprisingly, Hermione did the same, and when she does it, it's because she has something on her mind.
"Who could it be, though? Obviously, it's not (Y/n), so who'd want all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?" Honestly, it wasn't that hard to think about someone.
"Do you really have to ask?" I said, with a particular bleached haired boy in mind.
"If you're talking about Malfoy –" She tried to say, but was interrupted by Ron's voice.
"You heard him, 'You'll be next, Mudbloods! –" This time, I cut him off.
"Don't say that word." When Ron said that word, it wasn't filled with hatred, of course, but it still hurt to remember the whole scene, mainly because I don't remember it at all.
But it was because of something else, too, I said to Hermione I felt bad about it, that I didn't want to hurt him, but... in that moment, I did want to hurt him, I wanted him to suffer, and seeing him on the floor, after I punched him... it made me feel good.
I hated feeling that, what kind of person wants to see someone else suffer? Of course, what he said wasn't good at all, but, did it deserve it? The me in that moment, the one who acted out of pure rage, obviously thought so like that.
But, did I? Because, as much as I want to deny it, that's me too, and I... never wanted to feel like that again.
"Oh, come off it, I'm just imitating him!"
"Still, I don't really like that word,"
"Fine, but come on! You've got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him." I have to admit, that comparison did get a laugh out of me.
"Malfoy, the heir of Slytherin?" Asked Hermione, clearly sceptical about it.
"Yeah, I don't know guys, he doesn't exactly strike me as someone who could control a monster like that," I said.
"Think about it, look at his family, the whole lot of them have been in Slytherin, he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants," Harry said.
"I suppose it is possible..." Said Hermione, her face the usual she carries when she's thinking.
"But how do we prove it?" Asked Harry. To do that, we'd have to do something like ask him directly, and my mind already found it's answer.
"There might be a way," Hermione gave a quick glance at Ron's brother, Percy, and then to me, "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect."
"Hermione," She looked at me again, "You don't mean..." She nodded at me.
"If, in a month or so, you two feel like explaining, please let us know," Said Ron, growing more irritable by the second.
"I think what Hermione is saying, is that we directly get in Malfoy's face and ask him about it," I said, I still couldn't believe she'd be willing to break so many rules, but that just shows she's, at least, being more relaxed around rules, that's honestly great.
"But... that's impossible..." Said Harry, Ron was already going to laugh at our idea.
"Harry, remember what Mom taught us, I know you like potions, so think," I said, looking directly at him, "Can you remember anything she showed us?" He seemed to be deep in thought, and it was like that for a few seconds, until his eyes lit up.
"The Polyjuice Potion?" Hermione and I nodded at his mention of it, "But that'd be impossible. Your mom said it even gave a difficult time to her"
"Care to let me in it?" Said Ron, clearly annoyed by not explaining it to him.
"It transforms you into someone else, can't remember how much it lasts, though." Said Harry quickly, I know Mom would be proud of him for remembering that much.
"It wears off after a while, but getting a hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library." Said Hermione.
The thought of getting a permission paper from Professor Flitwick did occur to me, given we still have those extra lessons on Charms, but I think it'd be rather difficult, considering Potions and Charms had almost no relation at all.
"I think, if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance..." Hermione said, again thinking of a quick plan, in theory, it could work.
"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that, they'd have to be really thick..." Said Ron, turning down another plan.
But his insight made me think of someone, a certain Professor who always seems to be thinking about one thing only, and... if we ask him, It might even work.
"I think I know who we can ask... or rather, who Hermione can ask."
Hermione looked at me, trying to decipher who it might be, honestly, the fact that it doesn't even cross her mind that Professor being a thick headed one it's surprising.
But this might just work.
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