A Young Wizard's Journey - The Chamber of Secrets

The Monster Revealed

The next few weeks or so crawled painfully on and still Y/N hadn't managed to pin down Ginny. Every time he'd seen her, she'd either slipped off to the dormitories as he entered the common room, or in passing in the corridor and he couldn't exactly speak to her in front of teachers despite what his original anger had been telling him to do.

Y/N was still angry, he spent most evenings in the common room staring into the fire, barely eating and sleeping, and just constantly waiting for the monster within the Chamber to rear its head again, and whilst in class and moving around the school, keeping his eyes peeled for the trails of spiders like they had seen the night they had investigated the corridor.

His anger had levelled off for now however, being angry at himself served no purpose. He knew he had messed up in letting Hermione get injured, now the monster was going to pay for it, then he would deal with his own failure. The monster however, and whoever was controlling it, had apparently been put off by the sheer amount of patrols.

Harry and Ron didn't dare walk the corridors through the cloak, after their previous run in they didn't think it was worth it, but Y/N was well aware that the only person at Hogwarts strong enough to just see straight through a disillusionment charm had been Professor Dumbledore. There was always the chance the others would catch him obviously, but he was quick and careful enough that he never was.

That is, until about a week after Dumbledore and Hagrid had left.

Madam Pomfrey had barred visitors to the Hospital Wing but that wasn't stopping Y/N. Every night since Dumbledore and Hagrid had left, he snuck down here to visit her. Tonight was no different, he slunk up to the Hospital Wing door, muttered 'Alohomora' and opened the door.

Except the door didn't open.

He raised his wand and said the incantation again.

Nothing.

Then he felt something hit the top of his head and felt the familiar feeling as though something warm was trickling down his neck as his disillusionment charm was lifted. He span around, coming face to face with Professor Snape.

Snape's face was impassive, but he could see a fire behind those eyes similar to the one
Dumbledore had supported the night he'd received his suspension notice. Wordlessly, Snape pointed down the corridor and Y/N trudged along behind him. Snape led Y/N into his office and sat down, Y/N tentatively took the seat opposite him.

Snape watched Y/N for a few moments before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

'You aren't making this easy, L/N.'

Y/N was in shock. He'd been expecting detention, points taken, all sorts, anything other than this.

'Making what easy, Professor?' he asked, genuinely curious.

'Our job,' said Professor Snape, looking up at him. 'Monster on the loose, The Headmaster gone and now Madam Pomfrey is telling us about how she keeps finding the Hospital Wing door unlocked in the middle of the night.'

'Ah,' said Y/N lamely. 'Knew I was forgetting something.'

Snape shook his head at Y/N and sighed again.

'Look, I'll speak to Madam Pomfrey, see if we can get you a half an hour slot after dinner to visit Miss Granger as long as you're escorted and someone stands watch nearby. But I must ask you to stop sneaking into there after hours. It looks bad.'

Y/N wouldn't have believed Snape had said it if he hadn't watched him do it.

'Thank you sir, but if I may ask, I was expecting detention or worse, why are you helping me?'