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Before the fastest babbling student had the seconds to make his opinion known, Headmaster Dumbledore rushed outside the hall, with an agility and a speed which were quite frankly phenomenal when one paused to think the wizard was over a hundred years old. In spite of his advanced years, the Grand Sorcerer had accomplished an athletic performance a man half his age would be quite happy to imitate. Granted, wizards had a higher life expectancy than the rest of their non-magical cousins but still...
"He didn't say to go directly to the dormitories this time, didn't he?" Said Morag as countless students raced after the Headmaster to see what had just hastened the end of the Halloween Feast.
"Well there's no imbecile to shout 'Troll in the dungeon!' this time, isn't it?" Replied Alexandra, as Hermione and Nigel raced to join them from the Gryffindor table. "But this time, I don't know about you, but I have a very bad feeling."
"What was this sound?" Panicked Nigel, coming straight from the Gryffindor table.
"It might be one of the Hogwarts wards alerting Professor Dumbledore that something grave has happened." Proposed Hermione, as the group of four followed the teachers and the dozens of students running out of the Great Hall and climbing to the second floor where the Headmaster had disappeared.
The progression was not easy. The corridor and the stairs they climbed were not part of the main avenues the students used to go to a class or the House's Common Rooms. As a result, what could happen when hundreds of students pressed on at the same time in the same direction and towards the same goal predictably happened. A crowd formed, with each witch and wizard in the crowd whispering, speaking out outright shouting his opinion about the matter. Until they reached the second floor where Professor Dumbledore had stopped.
The first thought which came to Alexandra when they reached the location, their progression hidden by a large group of bulky Hufflepuffs fifth-years, was how much this part of the castle looked like the one where Morag had spoken to her about the Old Ways. No wizarding portraits. No decorations. No classrooms. No enchanted windows. Just a bare, dark wall of stone, which might have been there since Hogwarts very foundation for all the Ravenclaw witch knew.
The students before Alexandra and Hermione moved a bit on the left, allowing them to finally what was making the firsts persons to reach the scene gasp and shudder.
A circle had been formed by the Hogwarts student population, and in the middle of it were Neville Longbottom, Leo Black and Ron Weasley. With a certain satisfaction Alexandra noticed the trio was looking shameful and apprehensive. Next to them was Headmaster Dumbledore himself, who had drawn his wand and was now lightening two statues. Statues? No, these weren't statues. It was the caretaker Argus Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris, who both looked like they had been turned into stone.
That was bad. Very bad. But there was more worrying. As lights came out from the wands of dozen of students, the corridor became clearer and forcing her eyes through the darkness, Alexandra finally perceived the inscription.
Foot-high words had been graved magically in the wall, and now at the light of the wands and the torches they began to burn, shimmering in the darkness to reveal their sinister message.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
To Alexandra's side, Hermione groaned.
"Please, someone tell me it's a new horrible joke of the Golden Trio..." Murmured Nigel.
"If it's them, they are improving." Whispered Alexandra. "From glue and painting pranks to something that turns an adult into stone in over an hour?"
Then someone shouted through the buzzing low-voiced conversations.
"Enemies of the heir, beware! First the Squib, you'll be next, Mudbloods!"
It was Draco Malfoy. The idiot blonde had pushed through the middle of the crowd, his blue eyes alive and enjoying the spectacle, his usually bloodless face flushed in a tone reminding he had been orange-coloured not so long ago, and he grinned at the sight of the immobile Filch and his pet.
Alexandra felt truly revolted and disgusted at the arrogant blonde bigot, who was obviously taking pleasure at the macabre scene. True, she had never been a great fan of Filch and his cat. But really, nobody liked the caretaker. Who would like a person having the manners, the corporal hygiene and the ethics more in line with the dark periods of the Middle Ages rather than the late twentieth century? Attacking him like that was nevertheless going too far, and insulting all those who had non-magical ancestry in public was even less acceptable. Alexandra was really in the mind of cursing the blonde git here and now for having the audacity to denigrate her mother's ancestry. But before Alexandra had the time to draw her wand, the action began.
The Malfoy Heir, too busy gloating, had neglected to watch his surroundings. If he had, Draco Malfoy would have noticed he was surrounded, not by his bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle or other Slytherin bigots, but by Hufflepuff fourth and fifth-years, a good proportion of them coming from the non-magical world. Their reaction was swift and brutal. In less than five seconds, the blonde second-year took two punches in the belly, one kick in the legs, his pale face began to cover in pustule and the lace of his shoes mysteriously animated to form a complicated pattern between his legs. Then the sole child of Lucius Malfoy lost his equilibrium, although he managed to land on his backside.
Fortunately or unfortunately for the future of the Malfoy family, Dumbledore had emerged from his magical trance and began again to give his safety instructions, a fact which surely saved Draco from a lengthy stay in the infirmary.
"All the students return to their Common Rooms!" Said the old and powerful wizard with his wand pulsating silver sparks to make himself remarked.