novelraw Chapter 33: The Chamber Opens
Chapter 33: The Chamber Opens
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Chamber Opens
"The Chamber has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware."
The words written on the third-floor wall stunned all the students; the handwriting gleamed eerily in the light of burning torches.
After the Halloween feast, as Draco and the Slytherin students walked out of the Great Hall, contentedly full, they saw a familiar scene: the cat named Mrs. Norris, her tail hanging from a torch bracket, her body stiff as a board, her eyes wide open, staring straight ahead.
The cat was Petrified, just like in his previous life.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron stood alone in the middle of the corridor, facing the cat. The students automatically formed a circle around them, cautiously keeping their distance. No one dared approach.
Merlin! Hermione's face turned pale.
Draco pushed aside the students blocking his way, trying to get closer and ask what was going on, but Blaise grabbed him from the side. "What do you think you're doing? Don't get too close to them—don't get involved in trouble. They are trouble itself. Look at Filch's face!"
Mr. Filch, who rushed over, saw the pitiful state of his beloved pet and his face turned ashen. He then began hurling insults at Harry and his friends, convinced they were the culprits who'd harmed Mrs. Norris.
However, he didn't get to rant for long. Professor Dumbledore rushed over and took the three stunned students to the Headmaster's office for questioning.
Draco didn't want to be noticed by Professor Dumbledore. He hadn't figured out how to face "the greatest Headmaster in Hogwarts history and the greatest wizard of our time."
When you faced someone who'd already died before your eyes, it was hard not to have mixed feelings. He couldn't even adjust his mindset when facing the innocent students who'd died tragically in the Battle of Hogwarts in his previous life—how much more difficult to face his former assassination target?
For the past year, he'd avoided Dumbledore as much as possible, hoping not to suddenly run into the kind, smiling old man in a Hogwarts corridor.
So Draco, lost in thought, let Blaise pull him along, silently following the Slytherin crowd back to the common room.
"What are you thinking about?" Blaise asked rudely as soon as they returned to the common room. "What's wrong with you today? You're not calm at all—you're even a bit impulsive."
"Nothing. I'm just a little worried about this." Draco sat lost in thought in the armchair by the fireplace, staring blankly at flickering flames. "It's written on the wall—the Heir's Chamber—"
"That's right. I thought of that too, the Chamber of Secrets of the Slytherin heir. Which House doesn't have some mythical legend? So many years have passed, and the Chamber of Secrets has never been found." Blaise breathed a sigh of relief and said nonchalantly, "I guess Potter and the others used this legend as a gimmick to play a prank and targeted Filch."
"It's not as simple as you think." Draco said amidst the crunching sounds of Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle munching on pumpkin pasties. "Even the Headmaster was alerted—it's clearly not an ordinary prank."
"So, Potter has gone a bit too far, hasn't he?" Blaise said casually, leaning back in his chair.
"I don't think Harry Potter did it," Draco said. "Lockhart is a better suspect—his office isn't far from the crime scene..."
"What about Lockhart?" Pansy, who was passing by, stopped and asked in confusion. Draco and Blaise both kept their mouths shut, not wanting to waste time on such questions.
Pansy glared at them, walked straight up to Crabbe, and said arrogantly, "Vincent, give it to me." Crabbe looked at her in horror and obediently handed over the newly opened bag of pumpkin pasties.
"Pansy, stop bullying him." Draco had his back to them, but he heard what Pansy was doing.
"What do you mean by bullying? This is education!" Pansy said fiercely. "Vincent, eat less—you're fat enough already. I heard your mother complaining about it at the holiday tea party! And—"
She turned to look at Blaise, who was frowning, and asked, "What were you saying about Lockhart?"
"Nobody's talking about Lockhart—we're talking about Harry Potter! I think he played a prank on that cat, and Draco disagrees," Blaise said coldly.
"I'm on your side, Blaise. I told you Potter was just trying to show off!" Pansy munched on a pasty, pulled up an armchair next to Blaise, and joined their conversation with great enthusiasm. "But I never liked that cat—I don't know how they managed it! It's really satisfying to have that spying cat stuck to the wall."
Draco sighed. Just like in his previous life, these people had completely misunderstood.
"A very basic question: How did Harry Potter know about Slytherin legends?" Draco looked at Blaise's suddenly thoughtful face and reminded him, "He's a Gryffindor who grew up in the Muggle world. He simply has no way of knowing all this."
Not far away, Theodore Nott, who was quietly reading, suddenly looked up from his book and glanced at him.
"That makes sense," Blaise said thoughtfully, glancing around the common room—where Slytherin students were gathered in small groups, chattering about what had just happened on the third floor.
"Oh, I sincerely hope the prankster isn't from our House. Or rather, let's hide well so Professor Dumbledore doesn't catch us and give him a chance to dock five hundred points from us," Pansy said nonchalantly—as if it were no big deal.
The others also wore expressions of agreement—they hadn't yet realized the matter's seriousness.
At present, a single Petrified cat alone wasn't enough to attract the entire school's attention. Most students thought it was a prank or joke, and the Slytherin students were even a little gleeful.
In his previous life, Hogwarts only gradually descended into panic after a series of "students being Petrified" incidents, with parents' owls crowding the Headmaster's office and governors' meetings. The Board of Governors then arrested Hagrid to quell public anger. However, it turned out Hagrid was innocent. Even after he entered Azkaban, the attacks didn't cease.
Later, Harry and Ron entered the Chamber of Secrets at term's end and defeated the monster, earning them a Special Award for Services to the School. A few days later, Hagrid was also acquitted. Meanwhile, Gilderoy Lockhart lost his memory and was admitted to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
This was all the information he remembered about the Chamber from his previous life.
While Draco was still in a daze, Blaise and Pansy were already having a heated discussion—who else could possibly play such a prank?
"...It could also be Peeves. He's been at Hogwarts for so long, he must know this legend," Pansy said, pursing her lips. "Besides, he's always causing trouble and making a scene."
"No, he's just a troublemaker—not even a proper ghost—and can only do very limited things. Considering the phrase 'Enemies of the Heir, beware,' you should think about who Filch is at odds with, and whose grudges he holds deepest. Take the Weasley twins, for example—though they're Gryffindors, they come from an ancient wizarding family and certainly know this legend," Blaise said with interest. "If it were me, I'd use legends from other Houses to play pranks and confuse them. They'd never suspect me."
This was getting more and more outrageous.
Draco rubbed his temples and asked, "Didn't you consider that the legend might be true?"
"What do you mean? You think the Chamber of Secrets actually exists and was opened?" Pansy said smugly, chewing on her pasty. "Don't be ridiculous. If it existed, Dumbledore and the others would have discovered it long ago! Besides, wasn't Hogwarts renovated? Maybe they already dismantled the Chamber back then."
No. It wasn't dismantled—it was hidden away. Draco thought enigmatically.
At least that's what the Grey Lady had said.
Hogwarts had always maintained a tight-lipped policy regarding heinous incidents' specific details. In his previous life, Draco had no idea what kind of monster lurked in the Chamber of Secrets—he only knew it attacked students and Petrified all living things.
At the end of the previous school year, thanks to the Grey Lady, Draco learned the Chamber monster's identity: the Basilisk. Therefore, during the holidays, he'd brewed Mandrake Restorative Draught to prepare for any eventuality.
Unfortunately, the information was still too limited. He didn't know the Chamber's exact location, let alone find the Basilisk and figure out how to remove one of its venomous fangs.
"The most crucial question is, how does this enormous monster appear and disappear so freely at Hogwarts?" Draco stared at the fire, muttering to himself in a barely audible voice, completely baffled, amidst Blaise and Pansy's conversation.
For days, Hogwarts students talked about Mrs. Norris's Petrification. Even the portraits and ghosts in the castle were debating the matter.
"That cat was Petrified, that's right!" One evening at dinner, Draco overheard the Gryffindor ghost—Nearly Headless Nick—speaking loudly to the Fat Friar in the Great Hall. "But that's not a simple Petrificus Totalus! Dumbledore said it requires very advanced Dark Magic to do that! Second-years can't do that!"
Dumbledore doesn't seem to suspect Harry and the others, Draco thought. They were only questioned and then "acquitted" by Dumbledore that same day.
Filch, however, couldn't get over it and often gave Harry suspicious looks when he passed by.
After Mrs. Norris's incident, he became somewhat erratic. He often wandered the corridor where Mrs. Norris was attacked, or tried wiping off the writing on the walls with various cleaning solutions, even though the words still stubbornly shone on the walls.
"Mr. Filch is probably very sad." In the library's private space, Hermione absentmindedly flipped through a thick book and said to Draco, "He probably loves his cat very much."
"Save your sympathy, Hermione. Being a victim doesn't mask the fact that he hates students," Draco said lazily. "He's gone mad. An hour ago he put Crabbe and Goyle in detention because they were 'breathing too loudly' as they passed him."
"Speaking of which, yesterday he put the Weasley twins in detention, saying they shouldn't be 'joking around' in the corridors," Hermione said with a pained face, then picked up another thick book and quickly flipped through it. "Lately he's been staring at Harry with bloodshot eyes, yelling that it's all Harry's fault because Harry knows he's a Squib..."
"Oh, he's a Squib? That explains so many of my questions," he said with an "I see" tone.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I've always been curious why there are brooms in Hogwarts Castle that can't be used for flying, and why there's a broom cupboard specifically for storing these kinds of brooms," Draco said. "It seems all these strange occurrences are thanks to him."
"Come on, it's weirder to use a broom to fly." Hermione shook her head, looking completely bewildered.
"Hermione, you need to abandon this Muggle-like thinking. You're a witch. You can fly on a broomstick—it's an innate ability." Draco, fiddling with his Ancient Greek translations and pondering her Muggle origins, couldn't help but offer a reminder. "By the way, you need to be more alert lately. Whether it's Filch or whatever, this cat might just be the beginning."
"What do you mean by that?" she asked, looking up at him with a hint of suspicion.
"It's nothing, just my reasonable concern." Draco glanced at her, feigning ignorance, and asked, "What exactly are you busy with?"
He'd noticed it long ago—Hermione seemed to have been stimulated by something, spending several days in a row in the library researching something, and even Draco's Ancient Greek translations couldn't interest her.
"I want to look into the Chamber of Secrets legend. All copies of Hogwarts: A History are borrowed," Hermione sighed complainingly. "The waiting list for borrowing them is two weeks long."
"That's normal. Everyone's curious about the Chamber of Secrets." Draco lazily twirled the quill in his hand. "Speaking of which, what exactly happened that day? Why didn't you go to the feast in the Great Hall?"
"We went to the dungeons that day for Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party," Hermione said. "Harry invited us."
"No wonder he was so eager to clear Harry's name," Draco said, suddenly realizing. He then asked, "If that's the case, why were the three of you upstairs instead of in the dungeons?"
"There's practically nothing for a living person to eat there. We were planning to go back up to the Great Hall. But, Harry said—" Hermione choked up. She couldn't decide whether to bring it up.
Ultimately, this was Harry's business. The fact that he could hear things others couldn't was incredibly strange. Hermione didn't think she had the right to speak out of turn.
"What did he say?" Draco pressed, alert.
"Oh, it's nothing. I think he might have been hallucinating from hunger..." Hermione said dismissively.
Hermione definitely knows something, but she doesn't want to talk about it. Draco frowned.
This feeling was a little uncomfortable. When did she start to distrust him? Were all girls this fickle?
Hermione clearly didn't want to talk about that night anymore—she was more interested in learning about the Chamber of Secrets legend. She looked at Draco hopefully. "Draco, since you come from a wizarding family, perhaps you know something about the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Why don't you ask Professor Binns in the next History of Magic class? Since he's so old he's practically a ghost, what at Hogwarts doesn't he know?" Draco said tactfully, deliberately ignoring her expectant look.
He was a little bothered by her keeping it a secret.
How could she let me be the only one to experience the feeling of being kept in suspense? She also needs to experience this anxious, uncertain feeling.
"Oh, come on, why would he talk about this in class? Draco, I bet you know something," Hermione said irritably. She caught a glint of cunning in Draco's eyes and concluded he was hiding something from her. "Why can't you just tell me?"
"I'm not the only one hiding things at this table," Draco said pointedly.
He was still bothered by Hermione's pause just now.
"Why won't you tell me the truth? I don't believe it's a coincidence." He stared at her, observing her expression, trying to catch any subtle change.
"Not a coincidence? So, you also think the three of us harmed the cat? That's not surprising—I've heard quite a few people talking about it privately!" she retorted sensitively to his question.
The way he stared at her was so intense it made her blush.
His gaze was direct and somewhat blatant, making her uncomfortable. He might be suspecting her!
"Of course I didn't think that," Draco said impatiently. What was Hermione thinking?
"But I think it was no coincidence you were there! To be honest, I thought we could be more honest with each other!" he said dejectedly.
"Because I don't need to report anything to you, as if you don't have loads of little secrets about Dark Magic!" Hermione said irritably.
Why does he speak in such an aggressive manner?
He's too cunning!
She'd told him about Herpo that day, but he'd turned around and burned her bridges, refusing to share anything about the Chamber with her!
Fine, then she could find it herself.
She didn't believe she couldn't do her own research without Draco Malfoy. She thought angrily.
Moreover, his fervent passion for Dark Magic made her feel he wasn't as simple as she'd thought.
There was definitely something suspicious about the "Herpo's Notebook" he studied—it mentioned lots of advanced Dark Magic terms and dangerous species.
Where did he find this book? Was it in the Restricted Section? Was that a place a second-year should frequent? Madam Pince had always been very cautious about borrowing books from the Restricted Section. How did he get it?
He was clearly very interested in the book, no matter where he'd found it—his eyes lit up.
There was no doubt he was hiding something from her. He certainly knew more than he said, especially about Dark Magic. The things Ron had told her suddenly came back—"The Malfoys all revere Dark Magic."
She had no desire to have anything to do with Dark Magic!
And he, a secretive boy obsessed with Dark Magic, interrogated her like a criminal, as if she'd done something shady—he was certainly meddling in her affairs.
"Why we were there has nothing to do with you!" she said stubbornly and arrogantly, picking up the thick books she'd already read and preparing to raid another bookshelf.
"Very well." Draco resumed his indifferent expression, and Hermione could sense his foul mood.
"Yes, very well." Hermione retorted sharply, feeling somewhat hurt by his cold attitude. "I don't think there's any need to discuss this with you any further."
Not long after, the fluffy brown head disappeared angrily behind the bookshelf. Only Draco's soft sigh remained.
It wasn't that he didn't want to tell Hermione, it's just... if he told her, she might misunderstand him even more.
However, the good student Hermione eventually got the answer she wanted.
She took Draco's casual remark as a guiding light in her pursuit of truth—uncharacteristically challenging Professor Binns's authority by asking him to talk about things beyond the textbook, she innovatively swept away the entire class's sleepiness.
Professor Binns was perhaps experiencing for the first time how popular he was with his students. He was surprised to find that almost all the drowsy students had opened their eyes and were listening intently and eagerly to his account of the Chamber of Secrets legend.
When class ended, students rushed through crowded corridors to the Great Hall.
Amidst the crowd, Ron said to Harry and Hermione with a look of disgust, "...Salazar Slytherin is a lunatic old nutter. Even if you paid me, I wouldn't want to go to his House and become an evil Slytherin..."
Hermione nodded in agreement and eagerly.
The scene was so jarring that Draco felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him. He was sullen and didn't even bother greeting them, rudely pushing past them with a few other Slytherin students without giving them a second glance.
To be honest, he didn't want to see their disgusted expressions.
This was one reason Draco didn't want to tell Hermione the inside story.
Once people learned the Chamber of Secrets was related to Slytherin, they'd immediately view them with prejudice, treating all Slytherin students as monsters and tarnishing their reputation.
He was somewhat concerned about how she perceived him.
After what happened at the library where she'd defended him, he didn't want her to think too badly of him.
He... somewhat enjoyed the feeling of being so passionately believed in by her.
Now, that feeling seemed to have vanished, because in her eyes, he was an evil Slytherin.
"I think he heard us talking," Harry said to Ron and Hermione, glancing uneasily at Draco's figure.
"I wasn't talking about Draco... but you know, most Slytherin students are pretty annoying," Ron quickly added.
"Oh, whatever," Hermione said coldly, staring at the back of Draco's head. Even among hundreds of students, his platinum blonde hair was still very eye-catching and impossible to ignore.
Is he not even willing to give me a glance now? That's rather hurtful to my pride, she thought.
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione in surprise.
"Why would you say that? Aren't you two very close? Don't you go to the library with him every day to study together?" Harry asked.
"That might be your misconception," she said sadly. "I feel like I don't understand him at all. Or rather, I never understood him."
The crowd thinned out slightly, and Hermione continued walking forward with heavy steps.
Professor Binns's presentation had left her feeling completely disoriented.
All the evidence pointed to a very likely conclusion, and although she didn't want to admit it, Draco was highly suspicious.
Professor Binns said that only Slytherin's true heir could open the Chamber of Secrets.
Not just anyone could open it. It had to be a Slytherin, someone with the qualifications and ability.
And Draco was undoubtedly Slytherin's best student!
He was even the best in the entire year. Only someone like him deserved to be Salazar Slytherin's heir, right? He was also a pure-blood wizard, the kind of wizarding blood Salazar Slytherin preferred.
Shortly before the Chamber opened, she'd translated an entire sheet of parchment filled with Dark Magic information for him. Undoubtedly, he was studying some advanced Dark Magic—could this be related to Mrs. Norris's Petrification?
Professor Binns also said there was some kind of monster in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets.
Almost simultaneously, she thought of the "Basilisk" on Draco's parchment—what a coincidence! What monster could be more terrifying than a Basilisk?
The Slytherin symbol was a serpent. Assuming the Chamber truly existed, was it possible the monster inside was a Basilisk? If so, who released it—Draco?
The thought that Draco might be the Heir to the Chamber of Secrets made Hermione's brow furrow with heartache.
Professor Binns also said the Heir could open the Chamber, release the horrors inside, purify the school, and eliminate all those unworthy to learn magic.
If Draco was the Heir, it meant he was no different from his terrible father—both were pure-blood supremacists.
Was she one of those he deemed unworthy of learning magic? Would he really see her that way?
Would those grey eyes that once smiled gently at her one day turn cold and indifferent as they watched her being harmed by some monster?
If things reached that most terrible point, if her suspicions were true, then all the impressions he'd given her would shatter.
He might not be the boy she thought would respect a Muggle-born witch.
Hermione dared not think any further, nor could she bear to look at that platinum blonde hair in the crowd.
He was so distinctive that she couldn't look away. But if she didn't look away, those doubts would entwine her heart like thorny vines, causing waves of hidden pain.
"Did you two have a falling out?" Ron mouthed to Harry, following behind a listless Hermione.
"I don't know either." Harry shrugged, mouthing the same answer.