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

𝘅𝘅𝘅𝗶 | 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵

When Gwen awoke, she was greeted by a large, blinding light hanging above her. She groaned, bringing an aching arm up to cover her eyes, blinking in the new environment.

  She'd barely had time to complete the small action, when her name was shouted somewhere to her right.

  Warm, familiar arms pulled her into an embrace, her head spinning at the sudden movement. The blood had just finished rushing to her brain when she suddenly realised who was holding her.

  Her mother.

  Gwen gripped her mother around the shoulders, basking in the warmth of her embrace.

  'Oh, Gwen, my darling.' Her mother's voice was raw. 'We were told you were dead-- oh, Gwen, we know what happened, why didn't you say anything?'

  She pulled away, her soft hands reaching to cup Gwen's face. Her eyes were puffy and red, her usually perfectly clean face tracked with tear stains. Beside her, Gwen saw her father,his hand resting on the back of his wife's chair, face unreadable. She caught his gaze, and was about to look away, but his lips tilted into a gentle smile, one of genuine affection and relief, something she'd never seen on him before.

  'I have one serious question,' her mother went on, moving her hands to hold one of Gwen's between them. 'Professor Dumbledore has been as clear as he could be, and thus, we believe we know everything...' she paused, her gaze boring deep into Gwen's. 'How is it that you came across that diary?'

  Her brain aching, the memories of everything that had happened having flooded back to her mind, Gwen tried to sift through what she could remember. She was silent for a while, thinking back to when she'd found the diary in her cauldron, the discovery of it mysteriously appearing amongst her things...

  Then it came to her. Diagon Alley, the day that Mr Malfoy and Mr Weasley had fought. Lucius Malfoy had picked her books from the cauldron Ginny had been holding. He must have slipped it in there when he'd been taunting the Weasleys. The intended victim hadn't been Gwen at all, it had been Ginny.

  Her eyes flicked nervously between each of her parents' grave expressions.

  'Lucius Malfoy,' she whispered.

  Her father's face twisted instantly, anger flaring so harshly into his features that Gwen flinched. His knuckles went white on the back of her mother's chair. Her mother's face had also contorted in fury, and the two shared a look, their eyes dark.

  'He'll never get away with this,' Father murmured, his gaze fixated on his wife. 'One thing, in these times,' he glanced around the Hospital Wing, 'but another our own daughter. She could've died, Enola. She almost did.'

  'I know,' Mother whispered. 'We'll discuss this later. For now,' she turned back to Gwen. 'How could you be so foolish as to trust an object such as that diary? You understand the dangers of Dark Artefacts. Why would you pour your soul into an object that belonged to the Dark Lord?'