The Young Padfoot *Book One*

Myrtle's Room

After class had finished, we walked out of the classroom and started aimlessly wandering around the corridors, trying to eventually get back to the common room to drop our stuff off before dinner.

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron said, moving out of the way of a group of fifth-year Ravenclaws. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home..."

While Hermione quickly nodded, I remained quiet, thinking about how not every Slytherin was bad. Though most of the Slytherins in my year did behave the way you'd expect them to, I knew for a fact that my Uncle Regulus wasn't completely awful. Even though I didn't know a ton about my family, I knew that Regulus had once fought for Voldemort but had then changed his tune and tried to leave, ending in his death. Despite his original intention of joining Voldemort, considering he tried leaving, I couldn't hold it against him as he attempted a change.

I noticed that Harry had also remained silent so I could only think that he was thinking about the lesson we had just had, which was doubtful, or there was something playing on the back of his mind.

As we were pushing through the busy corridors, a certain blond Gryffindor came rushing over excitedly to Harry.

"Hiya, Harry!" Colin said excitedly.

"Hello, Colin," Harry replied automatically.

"Harry—Harry—a boy in my class has been saying you're—" Colin called over to Harry, but being so small, he was easily pushed by the current of students. "See you, Harry!"

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione pondered.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," Harry muttered sarcastically.

"People here'll believe anything," I sighed.

By now we were out of the worst and could now actually walk without stepping on someone's feet.

"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked us.

"I don't know," Hermione frowned. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be—well—human."

"I reckon there is. Haven't you noticed how on edge a lot of the teachers are recently. And when Mrs Norris was attacked, didn't you see McGonagall? She's worried, all the teachers are," I added.

As we were speaking, we turned a corner and subsequently found ourselves in the very corridor where Mrs Norris had been attacked. The whole scene looked exactly as it did on the night of the attack. The only difference was that there was no longer a hanging cat, and an empty chair was pressed up against the wall that bore the threatening message.

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered.

We looked around us and saw that the corridor was completely deserted. Sharing a glance, we all made a silent decision; we were going to have another look around.

As I started moving around the message, looking for anything around it, I noticed Hermione squinting at something by the windows.

"Come and look at this," Hermione called over to us moments later. "This is funny..."

I left the wall and went to stand by Hermione, immediately noticing what she was talking about. Around twenty small spiders were running up the stone wall towards a crack in the window. When they reached it, it seemed that they were all trying to get through it at once.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry shook his head.

"Never," I agreed. "Have you, Ron?" No response. "Ron?"