The Potter Twins and the Chamber of Secrets

XXII

The news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying in the hospital wing as if dead spread through the school like wildfire. By Monday, the air was thick with rumour and suspicion, and the first years had taken to moving around the castle in tight-knit groups as if they were afraid they'd be attacked if they ventured off alone.

Ginny, who apparently sat next to Colin in Charms, was distraught, but I privately thought that Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering her up. They'd taken it upon themselves to start jumping out from behind statues or appear covered in boils or fake fur, and only stopped when Percy furiously threatened to write to Mrs Weasley and tell her that Ginny was having nightmares.

A black market trade of talismans, amulets and other 'protective' items had also exploded overnight, and Neville had bought three pointed purple crystals before we had pointed out to him that he was pure-blood and therefore in no danger whatsoever of being attacked. "They went for Filch first," was his reply, his eyes wide with fear, "and everyone knows I'm almost a squib..."

The suspicion surrounding Harry and I had also elevated to a much higher level. The Hufflepuffs were barely coming near us now and even the Ravenclaws had distanced themselves from us during lessons. The only people who seemed to actually want to be in school were the Slytherins, who appeared to be having a fabulous time hissing threats in the corridors to first and second-years, who were excellent targets and almost always ran away in fright. They didn't like the rumours circulating around Harry and I, however. It was probably an insult that two Gryffindors just going about their daily lives scared the students more than them.

Will had stepped up his protection, too, and the amount of people getting impromptu haircuts was now so high that I suggested he either stop for fear of getting multiple detentions or just go all out and open a barber shop in Gryffindor tower.

Even Rose appeared distanced. I saw her most weekends when we weren't busy brewing the potion, but slowly she seemed to want to spend less and less time with me and sometimes she didn't even last an hour before claiming she had some work to do, even though she was as punctual as Hermione was with homework and never ever left anything to the last minute.

----

One week before Christmas, Professor McGonagall went round taking a list of names of people who wanted to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. All five of us signed it, having heard that Malfoy was also staying - which struck all of us as rather suspicious. However, the holidays would be a prime time to get some information out of him but unfortunately, the potion was far from finished. We still needed the Bicorn Horn and the Boomslang skin, and even though we were all Gryffindors none of us could muster up the bravery to steal from Snape's private stores.

"Personally, I'd rather be petrified," Ron summed up, as we were sat on the floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom watching the potion bubble.

"What we need is a distraction," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "Then it'll make it easier to sneak in and steal the ingredients."

"If any of us three get caught, we'll be straight off home," I said, motioning to Harry and Ron beside me, who nodded.

Will held up his hands. "Don't look at me," he said, shaking his head, "I already got a stinking letter from Dad about not coming back for Christmas. If he hears I got in trouble he'll bring me home himself."

"I'd better do the actual stealing, then," Hermione agreed. "So all you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or too."

"Easier said than done," Harry said weakly.

So, in the next potions lesson, Snape gave out the instructions (we were making a Swelling Solution) and everyone got to work. We all sat separately from one another, apart from Will and Hermione, so Snape couldn't accuse Harry, Ron or I of colluding. From my seat next to Seamus, I flicked fish eye after fish eye at Malfoy and Goyle, who were three seats across from me. Eventually, when they turned round furiously to see who was staining their robes, and when Snape was halfway across the classroom shouting at Neville about something, Harry dropped a Filibuster Firework into the two Slytherins' potion.