The Other Castellan

The Message On the Wall

Chapter 21: The Message On the Wall

"What's going on?" Filch asked, hobbling over, his voice cutting through the silence. Lucas guessed that he was drawn over by trouble. He always seemed to find it, no matter what.

  Suddenly, he saw Mrs. Norris, and he clutched his face in shock, mouth hanging open in horror.

  "My cat!" he wailed. "My cat! My cat! What happened to Mrs. Norris?" His bulging eyes landed on Potter, who was standing at the front of the crowd.

  "You!" Filch pointed a shaking finger at Potter. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"

  "Argus!"

  Dumbledore had arrived. He was tailed by Lockhart, McGonagall, and Snape. They all had different expressions. McGonagall looked concerned, while Lockhart looked positively delighted (probably from the glee that he might become a hero again). Snape, had his usual expression: a sneer. Very surprising.

  Dumbledore passed the crowd and swept Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.

  "Come with me, Argus," he told Filch. "You too - Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger."

  Lockhart came forward eagerly, close to bouncing on the balls of his feet.

  "My office is the nearest, Headmaster - we can use mine - it's just upstairs-"

  "Thank you, Gilderoy," Dumbledore interrupted. 

  The crowd parted to let them pass. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lockhart passed by them; Potter, Weasley and Hermione followed them.

  "What do you think happened to Mrs. Norris?" Lucas wondered out loud.

  "Who cares?" Theo asked. "It'll make Filch miserable, that's all we need to know."

  "Theo!" Pansy snapped. "It's serious! What if what happens to Mrs. Norris starts happening to us? What then?"

  Theo fell silent. Lucas guessed that he didn't know what to say. However, he was still curious as to what happened. Did Mrs. Norris get attacked by a spell or a creature? Lucas thought that a spell would be more likely, as no dangerous creature ever got into the castle. The grounds, sure. But not the castle itself. 

  "I think it might be a curse." Lucas voiced his thoughts. "What else could do that? No dangerous creature can get into Hogwarts."

  "That sounds like the only likely possibility," Daphne agreed. 

  "Who would be that powerful?" Theo asked. "I mean, it must be some seriously dark magic to make Mrs. Norris like that. It was like she was a statue!"

  "Me?" Lucas pointed to himself. "You're asking me? Why?"

  "I don't know," Theo replied. "Because I feel like it?"

  Lucas rolled his eyes and saw Gemma come over to them. 

  "Let's go back to the Dungeons," Gemma said. "It's getting late. Wouldn't want to sleep in, would you?"

  "Yeah," Daphne replied. "Let's go."

  The four of them headed back to the Slytherin Dungeons, each of them lost in thought. Lucas didn't know what the others were thinking - he wasn't telepathic after all - but he was thinking upon the lines of, Not again. When will I get a break?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For the next few days, the attack on Mrs. Norris was all anyone would talk about. It was all Lucas would think about. (Maybe except for his school work. That was important).