Neville Longbottom and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 6: The Strange Voice

Neville was excited for the first Quidditch Match of the year - Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw. Luna knew about Quidditch, but had never been to a Match so Neville was determined to make a fan out of her. He told her everything he knew about it.

The week before the first Match, they were talking about Quidditch when Luna asked if there were Fouls. Neville knew that Fouls had been called in some of the Matches from last year, but he knew nothing about them. Luna had to get to her History of Magic class and Neville had a free Period, so he decided to look it up in the Library.

On his way to the Library, he was walking down the Second Floor corridor when Trevor started to squirm in his pocket. He stopped for a moment to see what was wrong, then he heard a whispering Voice.

". . . so hungry . . . so long . . ."

Neville tried to figure out which direction the Voice was coming from. He followed it down a flight of stairs, and along another corridor. When he came across a group of older students he asked if they could hear it. They couldn't, and walked off laughing and calling him "crazy" and the like.

". . . must kill . . . so long . . . so hungry . . ."

Trevor slipped free and quickly hopped in the opposite direction; by the time Neville had caught Trevor he could no longer hear the Voice. He never made it to the Library, but instead went straight to the Great Hall. He was eager to tell Luna about the Voice when she came down for dinner, and didn't mind waiting since he could think of nothing else.

"Do you think they lied about not hearing the Voice?" was her first question. "Or maybe one did but didn't want to admit it."

"I don't think so," Neville was quite intent, "why would they be joking around if they heard what it was saying?"

"Do you have any idea what it was?"

"I don't know, but . . ." Neville was worried about what Luna might think of him.

Luna reached out and held his hand, "It's okay, we'll figure it out."

"The carriages that take people between Hogwarts and the Hogsmeade Station," he continued. "I saw them being pulled by these scarry horses, but no one else could see them. What if I can see and hear creatures that other people can't?"

"There are a few creatures that only some people can see," she said, "but I don't know of any creature that only some people can hear."

"I'm pretty sure those horse-things are what I was hearing," Neville insisted. "I mean, the Voice was saying it was hungry, and they look pretty hungry."

"Come with me," Luna suggested, "I want to show you something."

Luna stood up and took Neville's hand. As she led him out of the Great Hall, he purposely let go of her hand but pretended to steady himself rounding the corner. Neville followed her down a narrow flight of stairs to the Right of the Marble Staircase. Once at the bottom, they doubled back along a corridor until they came to a large painting of a fruit basket.

"Where is this?" Neville asked.

"It's just the Kitchens; we're in the basement," Luna said as she tickled a pear on the painting.

The painting opened like a door to reveal a short passageway into another room. Inside, the room was bustling with dozens of House-Elves who were busy carrying dirty dishes from four long tables into another room off to the side. Then it dawned on Neville that this room was virtually identical to the Great Hall and, if he wasn't mistaken, it was directly underneath the Great Hall.

"Hello, Leepy," Luna said to a female House-Elf who walked up to her.

"So good to see Luna again. What can Leepy do for you, Miss?"