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tale told to frighten the gullible."

126

Hermione's hand was back in the air.

"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," said Professor Binns in his dry, reedy

voice.

The class exchanged nervous looks.

"I tell you, the thing does not exist," said Professor Binns, shuffling his

notes. "There is no Chamber and no monster."

"But, sir," said Seamus Finnigan, "if the Chamber can only be opened

by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would

they?"

"Nonsense, O'Flaherty," said Professor Binns in an aggravated

*151*

tone. "If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and

headmistresses haven't found the thing -"

"But, Professor," piped up Parvati Patil, "you'd probably have to use

Dark Magic to open it -"

"Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he

can't, Miss Pennyfeather," snapped Professor Binns. "I repeat, if the

likes of Dumbledore -"

"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore

couldn't -" began Dean Thomas, but Professor Binns had had

enough.

"That will do," he said sharply. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There

is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a

secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We

will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable

fact!"

127

And within five minutes, the class had sunk back into its usual torpor.

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron told

Harry and Hermione as they fought their way through the teeming

corridors at the end of the lesson to drop off their bags before

dinner. "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 fervently, but Harry didn't say anything. His

stomach had just dropped unpleasantly.

Harry had never told Ron and Hermione that the Sorting Hat

*152*

had seriously considered putting him in Slytherin. He could remember,

as though it were yesterday, the small voice that had spoken in his ear

when he'd placed the hat on his head a year before: You could be great,

you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin would help you on the

way to greatness, no doubt about that...

But Harry, who had already heard of Slytherin House's reputa

tion for turning out Dark wizards, had thought desperately, Not

Slytherin! and the hat had said, Oh, well, if you're sure ... better be

Gryffindor...

As they were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevy went past.

"Hiya, Harry!"

"Hullo, Colin," said Harry automatically.

"Harry - Harry - a boy in my class has been saying you're

But Colin was so small he couldn~t fight against the tide of people

bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, "See you,

Harry!" and he was gone.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.

128

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," said Harry, his stomach dropping

another inch or so as he suddenly remembered the way Justin Finch-

Fletchley had run away from him at lunchtime.

"People here'll believe anything," said Ron in disgust.

The crowd thinned and they were able to climb the next staircase

without difficulty.

"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked

Hermione.

"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure

* 1,5 % *

Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her

might not be - well - human."

As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end

of the very corridor where the attack had happened. They stopped

and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that

there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty

chair stood against the wall bearing the message "The Chamber of

Secrets has been Opened."

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered.

They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted.

"Can't hurt to have a poke around," said Harry, dropping his bag and

getting to his hands and knees so that he could crawl along, searching

for clues.

"Scorch marks!" he said. "Here - and here -"

"Come and look at this!" said Hermione. "This is funny . . . ."

Harry got up and crossed to the window next to the message on the

wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around

twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a

129

small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though

they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" said Hermione

wonderingly.

"No," said Harry, "have you, Ron? Ron?"

He looked over his shoulder. Ron was standing well back and seemed

to be fighting the impulse to run.

"What's up?" said Harry.

"I - don't - like - spiders," said Ron tensely.

"I never knew that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise.

"You've used spiders in Potions loads of times ......

*154*

"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, who was carefully looking

anywhere but at the window. "I just don't like the way they move ....

Hermione giggled.

"It's not funny," said Ron, fiercely. "If you must know, when I was

three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a great big fiIthy spider

because I broke his toy broomstick .... You wouldn't like them either if

you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and. .

. "

He broke off, shuddering. Hermione was obviously still trying not to

laugh. Feeling they had better get off the subject, Harry said,

"Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from?

Someone's mopped it up."

"It was about here," said Ron, recovering himself to walk a few paces

past Filch's chair and pointing. "Level with this door."

He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as

though he'd been burned.

130

"What's the matter?" said Harry.

"Can't go in there," said Ron gruffly. "That's a girls' toilet."

"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione, standing up

and coming over. "That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have

a look."

And ignoring the large OUT of ORDER sign, she opened the door.

It was the gloomiest, most depressing bathroom Harry had ever set

foot in. Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of

chipped sinks. The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given

off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the

wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of

them was dangling off its hinges.

* -L 5,5

Hermione put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall.

When she reached it she said, "Hello, Myrtle, how are you?"

Harry and Ron went to look. Moaning Myrtle was floating above the

tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin.

"This is a girls' bathroom," she said, eyeing Ron and Harry suspiciously.

"They're not girls."

"No," Hermione agreed. "I just wanted to show them how er - nice it is

in here."

She waved vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp floor.

"Ask her if she saw anything," Harry mouthed at Hermione.

"What are you whispering?" said Myrtle, staring at him.

"Nothing," said Harry quickly. "We wanted to ask -"

"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" said Myrtle, in a

voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am

dead -"

131

"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you," said Hermione. "Harry only -"

"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" howled Myrtle. "My

life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along

ruining my death!"

"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately," said

Hermione quickly. "Because a cat was attacked right outside your

front door on Halloween."

"Did you see anyone near here that night?" said Harry.

"I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Peeves upset me

so much I came in here and tried to kill myself Then, of course, I

remembered that I'm - that I'm "

"Already dead," said Ron helpfully.

* IL 56*

Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived

headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing

from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had

come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.

Harry and Ron stood with their mouths open, but Hermione shrugged

wearily and said, "Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle ....

Come on, let's go."

Harry had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a

loud voice made all three of them jump.

"RON!"

Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect

badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.

"That's a girls' bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you -?"

"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. "Clues, you know -"

132

Percy swelled in a manner that reminded Harry forcefully of Mrs.

Weasley.

"Get - away - from - there -" Perry said, striding toward them and

starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what

this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner -"

"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring

at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"

"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to

think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying

her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly

overexcited by this business -"

"You don't care about Ginny," said Ron, whose ears were now

*157*

reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of

being Head Boy -"

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect

badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or

I'll write to Mum!"

And he strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron's ears.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione chose seats as far as possible from Percy

in the common room that night. Ron was still in a very bad temper and

kept blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his

wand to remove the smudges, it ignited the parchment. Fuming almost

as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells,

Grade 2 shut. To Harry's surprise, Hermione followed suit.

"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though

continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to

frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who

thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

133

He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Malfoy -"

"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him - `You'll be next,

Mudbloods!'- come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to

know it's him -"

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione skeptically.

"Look at his family," said Harry, closing his books, too. "The whole lot

of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They

could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil

enough."

*158*

"They couldve had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!"

said Ron. "Handing it down, father to son ......

"Well," said Hermione cautiously, "I suppose it's possible ......

"But how do we prove it?" said Harry darkly.

"There might be a way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice still

further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. "Of course, it

would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking

about fifty school rules, I expect -"

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know,

won't you?" said Ron irritably.

"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get

inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions

without him realizing it's us."

"But that's impossible," Harry said as Ron laughed.

"No, it's not," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice

Potion."

"What's that?" said Ron and Harry together.

134

"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago -"

"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to