The Potter Twins and the Chamber of Secrets

XXI

That night there were raucous celebrations in the Gryffindor common room, and Harry was the star of the show. Although it wasn't typically in my nature to let someone else take all the spotlight, tonight I was happy to step back and watch Harry being fawned over by first-year girls (as well as Colin Creevey and his trusty camera). 

Will and I sat in the corner of the room, sharing a large armchair and a bowl of crisps. Both of us were yet to have growth spurts and were also quite skinny, so we fitted in the chair perfectly well. Every so often someone would come up and tell me I'd played well, I'd thank them, and then Will and I would go back to laughing at Harry's attempts at avoiding Colin's snapshots.

"You flew well, too," Will said, as we watched Percy congratulated Harry on his catch. I swallowed my mouthful of crisps before replying. "Thanks. I reckon everyone's surprised that Harry did well, but seeing as I'm so awesome, everyone was expecting it."

 Will snorted and muttered something I didn't hear. "Yeah, that'll be it."

Later, when the party had finally died down and everyone was in bed and asleep (including me, until something woke me up) I was startled by a yelp from Harry's bed next to me. In a flash, I'd ripped open the curtains around his bed, only to find him halfway down the mattress trying to grab on to an oddly familiar pillowcase-clad creature. "Dobby?" I said incredulously, as the elf skipped out of Harry's grip and began to wipe his face on the sheets. Suddenly, I noticed he was crying. "Dobby hurt Harry Potter," he was mumbling, slamming his face into the mattress - apparently not realising that it wasn't a hard surface.

Harry emerged from under the covers, hair dishevelled and eyes full of fury. "He's the reason we couldn't get to school, Sam," he said angrily. "And he jinxed that bludger, not Malfoy."

Astounded, I could barely think of anything to say. "Why?" I managed eventually, still in shock.

"Wants to get us sent home," Harry said, apparently just as baffled as I was. His anger (and mine) ebbed away as we looked at the pitiful figure in front of us. "What we didn't get to was why."

"Ah, if only Potters knew!" Dobby groaned, mopping his bulging eyes. "If they knew what they meant to us, the lowly enslaved creatures of the wizarding world, they would understand why they need to be safe! Things were better for Dobby, now He Who Must Not Be Named is gone, sirs, and you shone like a beacon of hope for those like Dobby, sirs, but now terrible things are to happen, perhaps already happening... 'tis not safe at Hogwarts any more for Potters. Now the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again-"

Dobby froze, horror-struck, and attempted to seize Harry's table lamp. Both Harry and I grabbed before he could reach it. "Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby," the elf muttered miserably.

"So there is a Chamber of Secrets?" I demanded, barely able to believe what I was hearing. "And it's been opened before?"

"But we're not muggleborn, how can we be in danger from it?" Harry added.

"Ask no more, sirs, ask no more of poor Dobby," the elf stammered, his eyes huge in the dark. "Go home, you must go home. You must not meddle in this, 'tis too dangerous..."

"Who is it? Who's opened it?" I asked, pulling his hand back as it inched towards the lamp again. "And we can't go home, one of our best friends is muggleborn, we can't just leave!"

"They risk their lives for their friends," Dobby sobbed, in a kind of miserable ecstasy. "So noble, so valiant. No, Dobby cannot tell, he cannot..." 

Suddenly, Dobby froze. There was some stirring from Will's bunk and his voice floated through the room, muffled and irritable. "Wassgoingon?"

"Dobby must go," the elf whispered, and he disappeared with a loud crack. 

Will groaned, drawing the curtains around his bed. "Alright, now I'm really awake." He peered curiously at Harry, still frozen from where we had been holding Dobby still. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

Harry seemed to have lost the ability to speak. "Uh-"

"Harry's bed's more comfortable than mine," I provided, fully convinced Will could see through everything I was saying. "I was gonna sleep there with him."

Will rubbed his eyes, probably too tired to ask more questions. "Whatever. You could have come to mine, though, I'm pretty sure it's the same. We both know Harry hates being woken up."

"Next time I'll try that," I said, barely believing the words  had come out of my mouth. Will yawned. "Nice one." He drew the curtains back again, and seconds later was snoring.

Harry looked at me oddly. "Wanna explain that?"

"I'm just as confused as you are," I replied, thoroughly baffled. "Anyway, this couldn't get any weirder. Talk about this in the morning?"

"You got it."

------------

As it happened, we didn't get a chance to talk about it in the morning. When we got down to the Gryffindor table at breakfast, I immediately noticed something was wrong. "Where's Colin?"

Harry glanced around. "Colin Creevey?"

"Probably just late," Ron said, sitting himself down next to the toast. "And why are you bothered? I thought he annoyed you."

"I hope he's alright," Hermione said, but she didn't look too concerned.

 We ate breakfast and were none the wiser until Professor McGonagall barged into Professor Flitwick's classroom while we were waiting outside for charms. Will and I, being the brave souls we were, pressed our ears to the door and got the shock of our lives when we heard what was said. "Another petrification," we heard her saying. Will gaped at me and was about to say something, so I shushed him as Flitwick gasped. "Who? A student?"

"Creevey," McGonagall said grimly.

My stomach did a horrible kind of flip and I exhaled deeply. "Poor Colin."

At the end of the day, we all headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and Harry,  Will and Hermione, the resident Potions experts, got straight to work. Soon, the cauldron was bubbling over the fire. 

Ron looked like he was about to punch the side of the cubicle. "I swear, I'm gonna wring Malfoy's neck."

"Colin's a good kid," I agreed, equally furious, and looked over at Hermione. "So, this'll take a month?"

"Yes. But the sooner we can get a confession, the better," she said, looking unusually flustered. "Merlin, when I get my hands on him..."

"And that's not all," Harry said grimly, stirring the pot. "We had a visit from Dobby last night." He told them what we had learnt.

"So that's what the racket was about," Will said, once my brother had finished. He looked up at me. "I knew you were lying, Sam."

"I didn't wanna stress you out," I said nonchalantly. "You do that frequently enough anyway, what's once more?" Will smirked, but before I could lunge for him, Ron interrupted. "That settles it, then! It must've been Lucius Malfoy who did it fifty years ago. Wish we knew what was in there, though, I'd love to know how it's been getting around..."

"Maybe there's a charm that can make it invisible," Hermione suggested.

"Well, whatever it is, I wouldn't wanna meet it in the corridors one night," Harry put in. "If Dobby's onto anything, we'd all best watch our backs."

hello everyone!

sorry for the wait, but i was committed to getting this out today and it eventually took shape, so i hope everyone enjoyed it! poor colin :( if you liked this chapter, please drop me a comment, i really love reading them!

hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy :)