The Dueling Club emptied like someone had pulled a plug from the Great Hall.
Students spilled out in uneven clumps — some whispering, some full-on shouting — and the story was already mutating faster than any truth could survive.
"Did you hear him?"
"He talked to it like—like it understood!"
"Parseltongue! Just like You-Know-Who!"
Ah yes, the ever-reliable Hogwarts rumor mill.
Efficient, if nothing else.
Daphne walked beside me, her arms folded tightly.
"You're quiet."
"Observing," I said. "It's fascinating how fast fear spreads when it wears a familiar face."
"You mean Potter's," Cho murmured from behind, catching up to us. "Half the Sytherins look like their about to pledge themselves before him as a chosen one or something."
Hermione, walking a few paces ahead, turned sharply.
"They're being ridiculous! Speaking Parseltongue doesn't make him evil—it's just a language!"
"True," I said lightly, "but you'll find reason rarely stands a chance against hysteria."
She opened her mouth to argue but didn't.
There was still a shadow on her face from earlier — a memory of the snake's sudden appearance, maybe, or of the way everyone had looked at Harry like he was something less than human, just because he spoke a language no one else here did.
We filed out with the others, the air thick with nervous chatter.
The sound bounced strangely off the stone corridors, echoing in ways that made the castle feel smaller, like it was listening.
A few students up ahead were whispering faster now, the tone shifting from rumor to alarm.
"What's that smell?" someone muttered.
I smelled it a second later — sharp, metallic, and faintly sweet.
Blood.
The crowd slowed, bottlenecking at the turn leading toward the second-floor corridor.
Then gasps, and a scream.
I felt my own pulse quicken.
Not fear.
Anticipation.
We pushed forward, and there it was.
The wall was slick with something dark and glistening.
Words scrawled in jagged letters across the wall:
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR... BEWARE.
And hanging just beside it — stiff, and pitifully small — was Mrs. Norris.
Filch's cat, dangling by her tail from a torch bracket.
For a long moment, the corridor was silent except for the faint drip of liquid hitting the stone floor.
Filch appeared before anyone could move, his steps uneven and frantic.
"What's going on here? What's—" His voice broke.
"NO!" he shrieked. "MY CAT! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!"
His anger and fury was directed at a pair of boys.
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
Standing just before the writing and next to the hanging cat, having been the first to arrive before being surrounded by their classmates.
"It wasn't us!" Ron stammered immediately. "We—we just got here!"
"You don't understand!" Harry tried to rebuke.
Filch's face turned a shade between purple and ash.
"LIARS! You—you've murdered her!" His voice cracked into a high-pitched wail. "I'll kill you, I'll kill you!"
The crowd was already murmuring, tension rolling like a storm.
Filch had quickly approach and grabbed up both boys by their collars hauling them off their feet.
But the tension was broken by the calm voice of a new arrival.
"Argus!-"
Albus Dumbledore had arrived, calling out to the irate caretaker, only to have his words cut short seeing the goings on, following closing in his step was Lily Evans.
Dumbledore's face was pale but composed.
"Argus," he said softly, "step away, please."
"She's dead!" Filch sobbed. "Look at her! You saw what he wrote on the wall!"
"It's not true, i never touch Mrs. Norris!" Harry cried out in his defense.
"Rubbish!"
"She's not dead Argus... Petrified." Albus cut in "But how she's been petrified i can not say."
"Ask him, he's the one thats done it." Filch once more accused Harry.
"Its not true sir i swear." Harry was quick to defend himself, with Ronald by his side, nodding his head up and down.
"Enough," Snape cut in, his tone quiet but sharp enough to slice stone. His eyes turned to Harry and Ron. "Explain yourselves."
Harry stammered. "We—we were just going back to the dormitory when we found Mrs Norris."
Lily's eyes widened in Horror "Harry..."
She had just learnt of recent developments within the dueling club, and was heading to speak to harry with professor dumbledore only to find her darling son had once more gotten himself mixed up in something sinister.
Thinking on the situation a little bit, Dumbledores voice finally resounded.
"Everyone will head to their dormitories, ... everyone except you two." he pointed to Harry and Ron.
Filch clutched Mrs. Norris like she was a child, still muttering about "punishment" and "justice."
The teachers closed ranks around the boys as the crowd of students began to disperse following the command from the headmaster.
Taking one final glance at the message scrawled upon the wall, before turning and joining the girls as we headed down to the main floor to enter our common room.
The words and scene itself near identical to the one depicted in the movie.
The girls appeared worried the entire trek back, but even after some questions were raised it was clear none of us could answer, well none without giving away for-knowledge which is dangerous.
Instead when the questions began to loop, Cassius simply advised they ask Lady Draconis or Lady Ravenclaw the pair of ghosts who had resided within the castle for the greatest amount of time.
~
When we finally reached the common room the girls were quick to scatter like spiders seeking out the pair of ghosts, wanting the lingering questions to be answered post haste.
Cassius on the other hand simply leasurly walked into the common room lounge before sinking into one of the armchairs.
His mind racing a mile a minute.
The storied events are beginning finally.
Ginny Weasley had held out as long as she could but a partial possession had finally taken hold of her.
Her personality was still more or less the same as always but she had become more open to 'suggestion'.
And thanks to that, the diary she had in her possession could move on to the second phase as its programming recognized her changed mental state.
It was quick to teach her a simple spell.
[Maer Gond]
A spell to cast a powerful petrification charm that would be amplified thanks to the use of Sindarin words rather than latin or english.
Similar in effect to the basilisks own gaze, except that should the victims be left alone for around a year they would naturally recover, though the use of petrification cures such as Mandrake Draught could also speed up the recovery process.
This was Cassius's plan, fake the attacks by the monster held within the chamber, placing the entire school into a state of unrest of fear.
The targets would be chosen as they had been previously in the book, all the while with the teachers focus turned to solving this new mystery, Cassius would be free to move on his own to secure rewards for himself in the meantime.