The Girl In The Chamber // Draco Malfoy

Chapter 22 - A Cold Blade

In the rush of the moment, Serpensi and Harry went the very next morning to find Professor Lupin, as it was now Saturday they would not see him in lessons for another few days. So they wanted to tell him as soon as they could, as neither of them could sleep properly after what they had seen. They didn't even need to say anything to one another that morning in the great hall, once they had both eaten they both rushed out of the door to find Lupin - who once again was missing from the staff table. Serpensi saw that Draco was none too pleased to see her run off with 'That famous Potter Boy', instead of spending the morning with him. Not needing any distractions right now she flew out of there and didn't look back.

They both pelted a mile a minute to his office, where - if he wasn't seen with the other staff - he could usually be found here. But as they clambered up the small set of stairs leading up to his doors, they stopped. They did not know why, but at the moment they felt that he didn't need to know right away. Now that they thought about it, he didn't need to know at all. There was no reason to bother him over something silly that had already happened. They both realised that he would probably just laugh it off and say "Oh my dear boy, it all just part of the training, nothing to fear. If you get the drift."

By mid-afternoon, that same day the urgency to tell Lupin had slowly washed away like a warm Butterbeer on a cold day. They had an overfill of relaxation and there were no worries for the rest of the day, until the sun had fallen beyond the horizon and the fog of night had rolled over Hogwarts. However, Serpensi and Harry had very different evenings that both led to the same place.

The problems began for Serpensi when she wanted to make a very discrete trip to the secret chamber that led off from the Slytherin common room and under the black lake. As it was still early in the night there was no way she could access the glass walkway without being seen. So she laid her hands on a few dung bombs that she figured would clear out the room very nicely. All was going to plan as just before she threw them down in the fire to get the most horrific smell out of them as possible she cast a bubblehead charm on herself to not be affected. She then took the opportunity to quickly speak in Parseltounge and slip unseen into the doorway, as smoke filled the room and the rest of the students ran out of the room for dear life. 

She was very pleased with herself when she took a very large sigh of relief hearing the large stone door close behind her and the hissing sound of the to glass against the water as the walkway finished building itself. This bubble of calm and happiness was suddenly shattered into a million pieces as the thing Serpensi hated the most came up behind her. It was Pansy, standing behind her arms folded with scowl on her face. Before Serpensi could even think of anything to say to cover her tracks, Pansy said "So" exaggerating the word "this is where you and Draco go. Makes sense , probably the reason I've never found it, didn't know you had to speak Transylvanian to get in or whatever that was." 

Serpensi was just glad in this moment that Pansy had not figured out what was really going on, but she had to take a double take to what she heard. And to be honest she realised that she was definitely not smart enough to anyway. She decided to just go with what Pansy thought she had figured out. "Oh no ." She said, trying to be convincingly shocked. "I thought it was a total secret, I cant believe you caught me."  Seeming very happy with herself for catching out Serpensi, she smiled at her and said "It's ok hun, you know what. Now that I know that I'm a bit smarter than you, I think we can be friends." In her heard Serpensi fought back "By the way, the language is Romanian. Transylvanian isn't a real language, you daft dimbo." But she had to bite her tongue.

Serpensi was more stunned than she was before Pansy opened her mouth. She quickly decided in her head that "accepting" her friendship was the best course of action for now. She hoped  that she could trick Pansy into following her into the passage that led to the Great Hall and convince her that there was nothing else in there.

At the same time, on the other side of the castle and a few floors up. Harry Potter was fast asleep, but he wouldn't be getting back to that peaceful state for the rest of the night. Deep into his dream he was jolted awake be a piercing, raw scream coming from inside of his dormitory. As he sat up in the dark he saw what had happened, Ron had just had a nightmare. He thought there was nothing to worry about. But then he began to hear the mumbling about Sirius Black. And then he saw the torn apart bed curtains . Once they had finally gotten of what had happened, they were standing in the middle of the Common Room talking to Professor McGonagall. She had decided that Ron's story true or not was cause enough of concern. The Professor went about herding the Gryffindors down to the Great Hall with the swift effectiveness she was well known for. 

At the same time Pansy and Serpensi had just made it to the rusty old ladder, that led to trap door directly beneath the Headmaster's seat where the Staff Table would usually be. As Pansy was about to begin climbing the ladder, she stopped. Becoming worried as she was irritated Serpensi raised her eyebrows at Pansy, realising what Serpensi meant Pansy spat out "Look. I know we haven't been friends for long, but you don't except me to go up there first. Do you? It could lead into Snape's shower or something and I don't think I'm mentally prepared for that." "Oh my god, ew - no one is. But I can tell you it leads somewhere much better." Pansy mimicked Serpensi's own eyebrow movement and Serpensi continued. Doing her best to imitate a gossiping teenage girl "I heard a rumour, that every night around this time Cedric Diggory does a shirtless workout. I think I hear that he's usually joined by Adrian Pucey - you know the Slytherin Chaser. And I think Terence." Pansy very quickly interrupted Serpensi "Stop, stop, stop. You had me at Diggory." Without warning Pansy rushed up the ladder into the Great Hall. And the next thing Serpensi heard was a very very loud scream.

In a rush of panic, Serpensi followed her up the ladder. She was able to piece together what happened very quickly, it turned out that instead of seeing a half naked and sweaty Cedric Diggory she had indeed come face to face with Professor Snape - as she had feared. And as Serpensi had quickly learned there was a sighting of Sirius Black. 20 minutes later, both girls lay next to each other in sleeping bags on the floor of the Great Hall surrounded mumbling and muttering students. It didn't take the chain of whispers long to reach Serpensi, but all she could gather together from what she had just heard was three things 'Sirius Black', 'Ron Weasley' and 'A Cold Blade'