enchanted • draco malfoy

Year 2: Enemies of the Heir... Beware

Felicity's POV

I served my first detention with Hagrid the next day from the end of my last lesson to the middle of dinner in the Great Hall. It wasn't that bad, mainly gardening and spraying weird poison on weird plants. I'm pretty sure I got it the best out of the three of us; Ron was with Snape and Harry was with Lockhart.

This was our first detention of the month as punishment for flying into the Whomping Willow, and for me, it was so far, so good. I bid farewell to Hagrid and Fang and walked back up to the Great Hall for dinner.

Ron was already there when I arrived, along with Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Hermione. "Where's Harry?" I asked as I sat down. Ron shrugged. "Maybe Lockhart's holding him prisoner," he suggested. Hermione glared at him. "Lockhart's a good person," she defended the arrogant professor.

By the time dinner was over, Harry still hadn't shown up. Ron, Hermione, and I waited in the Common Room until a few minutes after curfew, before Ron shot to his feet. "Come on," he said, "Let's just go look for him instead of this waiting." Hermione and I stood up and we headed out towards Lockhart's room. We rounded a corner and suddenly came face to face with a spooked looking Harry. "Harry," Hermione sighed in relief.

"Did you hear it?" Harry asked urgently. "Hear what?" I asked, confused. "That voice," Harry said, as if it were obvious. "Voice? What voice?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowed. "I heard it first, in Lockhart's office, then again, just now... it's moving, and I think it's going to kill," Harry replied, running down the corridor.

"Kill?" Ron asked fearfully as we followed Harry down the hallway. He finally stopped running at the end of the hallway where the corridor we were in merged with another. He took one look down the right hallway and ran down.

"Bloody hell," I grumbled, "Why is the floor all wet?" Hermione and Ron shrugged as we caught up with Harry. "What're you- AHHH!" Ron's question turned into an abrupt yelp as he took note of the 2 dozen spiders that were fleeing through a hole in a window in a single file line.

"That's strange," I said thoughtfully. Ron was trembling a little beside me. "I-I don't like spiders," he stuttered. "If I can't see them, they're not there, if I can't see them, they're not there," he muttered as he turned around, closing his eyes. I rolled my eyes at his stupid mantra.

Suddenly, he gasped and stumbled back. "What the bloody hell is that?" he asked, horrified. Hermione, Harry, and I turned around to see huge, red writing scrawled across the wall.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.

Enemies of the heir...

BEWARE."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked after I finished reading. I shrugged. "I don't know, but it's, uh, written in... blood," Hermione said, sounding disgusted and uncomfortable. "Or ketchup," I suggested. They all turned and cast me glares. I raised my hands up in surrender.

"What's- oh, no," I inhaled sharply as my eyes landed on Filch's cats' body, which was hanging by her tail from a torch bracket. Hermione, Harry, and Ron followed my line of vision and gaped. "It's Mrs. Norris," Harry muttered as he walked towards her. I followed him, circling around the cat. "Is she... dead?" I asked.

Then students came flooding the hallways; some in their night clothes and some still in their robes, but, nonetheless, it looked like half the school was gathered in these particular corridors. They read the writing on the wall quietly, then saw Mrs. Norris' body, and then started muttering, sounding terrified.

"'Enemies of the heir, beware'?" Malfoy sneered from the front of the crowd, his voice rising over everyone's murmuring. He glared over at Hermione. "You'll be next, Mudblood," he sneered. Most students gasped at the use of the foul word.

I instantly pulled out my wand, going through the mental checklist of fun curses and jinxes to use on evil gits like Malfoy, when Filch came rushing through the hallway, pushing students out of his way.

He read the writing on the wall, then turned to me and Harry. "Potter. Longbottom," he snapped, "What're you..." he trailed off as his eyes landed on something behind us. I turned around, confused, then came face to whiskers with Mrs. Norris. My eyes widened and I turned back to Filch, who looked equal parts horrified and murderous.

"M-Mrs. Norris?" he asked quietly, looking downright terrifying. He looked to me and Harry, then down to my hand, which still held my wand. I quickly shoved it in my pocket, hoping he'd give us a chance to explain. "You killed my cat," he said angrily. "No, Mr. Filch, it wasn't like that-" I replied quickly. "I'll kill you two. I'll kill ya!" he roared.

"Argus!" a voice rang out through the corridor. We all turned to see Dumbledore and McGonagall. "Argus, I..." he trailed off as he, like everyone else in this school, read the writing on the wall and spotted Mrs. Norris.

"Everyone," Dumbledore announced, "will proceed to their dormitories immediately." I tried blending in with the rest of the Gryffindors and heading back to the Gryffindor Tower, which, sadly, didn't work.

"Everyone except you four," Dumbledore said. I glared at Malfoy as he smirked at me smugly. I was tempted to pull out my wand and hex him then and there, but Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I had a bigger problem on our hands than that annoying prick.

"She's not dead, Argus," Dumbledore said kindly to Mr. Filch after everyone left, "She's just petrified." "Ah-ha! As I thought," Lockhart said proudly, "It's a shame I wasn't here; I know just the counter-curse that could've saved her life."

"But how she has been petrified, I cannot say," Dumbledore finished, ignoring Lockhart's comment. "Ask Potter and Longbottom! They've done it!" Filch shouted, "Just look what they wrote on the wall!"

"It's not true, sir, I swear!" Harry defended, his eyes wide. "We never touched Mrs. Norris, or painted the wall," I insisted.

"Perhaps Potter and his friends were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Snape suggested. 

Yes, that's right, Professor Severus Snape, Head of the Slytherin house, might possibly be supporting and defending us. Maybe he's not so bad, after all.

"However," Snape continued, "The circumstances are suspicious. I neglected to see Potter in the Great Hall for dinner."

I take it back.

"Ah, that would be my fault, Severus," Lockhart said apologetically, "You see, Harry was helping me answer my fanmail in detention."

"That's why Felicity, Ron, and I went looking for him, Professor," Hermione said innocently, "We'd just found him when he said..." "Yes, Miss. Granger?" Snape asked expectantly. "When he said he wasn't hungry," I filled in quickly. Harry nodded vigorously beside me. "We were heading back to the Common Room when we found Mrs. Norris," he lied smoothly. Snape raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes before turning to Dumbledore, awaiting the verdict.

"Innocent, until proven guilty," Dumbledore decided. "My cat," Filch growled, "has been petrified! I want to see some punishment!" "She will be healed soon, Argus," Dumbledore said soothingly, "As I understand it, Madame Sprout has a nice garden of Mandrakes that we can use to make a potion and cure your cat. But in the meantime, I strongly recommend caution. To all."