Jane Fizzle and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 6

    The next day, however, Jane barely grins once. Things start to go downhill from breakfast in the Great Hall. The four, long, house tables are laden with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of toast, and dishes of eggs and bacon, beneath the enchanted ceiling (today, a dull, cloudy gray). Jane and Scarlett sit down at the Slytherin Table next to William, who has his copy of Voyages with Vampires propped open against a milk jug. Gavin sits behind them, a slight stiffness in the way he says "Morning," which tells Jane he is disapproving of the way they have arrived. Rachel Lights, on the other hand, greets them cheerfully.  "Mail's due any minute — I think my brother sent me something," she tells them with a grin. Jane forgot Rachel has two older brothers. She doesn't know their names or ages, and she thinks it's a bit awkward to ask this far into the year.

    Jane has only just started her porridge when, sure enough, there is a rushing sound overhead and a hundred or so owls stream in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd. A big, lumpy package bounces off Rachel's head and, a second later, something large and gray falls into William's jug, spraying them all with milk and feathers.

    "Plumes!" Scarlett gasps, pulling the bedraggled owl out by the feet. Plumes slumps unconscious onto the table, his legs in the air, a damp, red envelope in his beak. "Oh, no —" Scarlett gasps even louder.

    "It's all right, he's still alive," Gavin says, turning around in his seat and standing  up, prodding Plumes gently with the tip of his finger.

    "It's not that — it's that." Scarlett is pointing at the red envelope. It looks quite ordinary to Jane, but Scarlett, Gavin, and William look like they expect it to explode.

    "What's the matter?" Jane asks awkwardly, knowing she's missing something.

    "He's — he's sent me a Howler," Scarlett says faintly.

    "You'd better open it, Scar," Gavin says in a timid whisper, Jane knowing it's something awful to make Gavin tremble. "It'll be worse if you don't. My dad sent me one once when he was out exploring, and I ignored it and" — he gulps —"it was horrible."

    Jane looks from their petrified faces to the red envelope. "What's a Howler?" she asks.

    But Scarlett's whole attention is fixed on the letter, which has started to smoke at the corners. "Open it," Gavin urges. "It'll all be over in a few minutes —"

    Scarlett stretches out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Plumes's beak, and slits it open. William makes his ears disappear, making Jane more nervous. A split second later, Jane knows why. She thinks for a moment it has exploded; a roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.

    "—STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR MOTHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW—"

    Jane figures it must be Scarlett's father yelling. It sounds like he is yelling in a megaphone, making the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoing deafeningly off the stone walls. People throughout the hall are swiveling around to see who has received the Howler, and Scarlett sinks so low in her chair, that only her curly forehead can be seen.

    "—LETTER FROM HARRINGTON LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR MOTHER AND I WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND FIZZLE COULD BOTH HAVE DIED —"

    Jane has been wondering if her name would've popped up. She tries very hard to look as though she can't hear the voice that is making her eardrums throb, wishing she can magic her ears away like William has done.