SERPENT'S SONG | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [2]

𝘅𝘃 | 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵

Gwen had learnt very quickly what had happened on Halloween; Mrs Norris was found petrified, and in blood, the message Tom had given her was painted on the wall in blood. She wondered why Tom had been a bit vague, but she tried not to think too much about it. She wanted to believe that he was genuine, but there was something deep inside her, a nagging feeling telling her not to trust him.

She ignored it.

She must have been looking more and more sick by the day; Edward had forced her to go to Madame Pomfrey four or five times within a week, and all she'd done was administer the Pepperup Potion each time.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had asked her where she'd gone that night, and, terrified they'd suspect her, she explained that Edward had gone into overprotective brother mode and taken her straight to Madame Pomfrey. Lucky for her, he had then gone on to do it all week, which made her story more believable.

She tried to avoid talking about what had happened to Mrs Norris, but it was the only thing the school was talking about. For some reason, she'd heard murmurings that Harry was 'the heir' that the message was talking about, and it was only when she'd found out that Harry, Ron and Hermione had almost been blamed for the attack that she realised why.

This information did not help with how sick she had been feeling.

Felix had started to notice how ill she was looking too. The attack had clearly affected her, and he'd pulled her aside at lunch on Tuesday to speak to her.

'Is it because you love cats?' he asked her. Merlin, Gwen wished that was the reason. 'It's alright. You know Mrs Norris is a nasty piece of work. Besides, they'll be able to cure her. If it is petrification, then all they'll need is a couple mandrakes and she'll be fine in no time.' He gave her a hug. 'Chin up, Gwen. They'll find the person that did this and they'll be out of here.'

That made her blanche once again.

Ginny Weasley was also affected by the attack. When the school day had finished the day Felix had spoken to her, Gwen found her on the sofa in the common room, Percy doing his best to cheer her up.

'He won't be expelled,' he was saying in a surprisingly tender voice. 'There is no way Ron did that. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Hearing this, Gwen felt even worse.

On Wednesday, she joined Harry, Ron and Hermione in the library at lunch. All week, Hermione had been in there at any free chance she got; it wasn't uncommon for her to be reading, but she seemed to be doing it much more than usual.

'What are you even looking for?' Ron asked when she'd finished scanning the rows of books, looking rather deflated.

'Hogwarts, A History. I left my copy at home because I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books. All the copies here have been taken out, and there's a two week waiting list.'