The Mysterious Heir

Chapter 13, Book 2, "Aragog's den"

Summer is creeping over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike have turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. But with no Hagrid visible from the castle windows, striding the grounds with Fang at his heels, the scene doesn't look right to Harry; no better, in fact, than the inside of the castle, where things are so horribly wrong.

Harry and Ron have tried to visit Hermione, but visitors are now barred from the hospital wing.

"We're taking no more chances," Madam Pomfrey tells them severely through a crack in the infirmary door. "No, I'm sorry, there's every chance the attacker might come back to finish these people off...."

With Dumbledore gone, fear has spread as never before, so that the sun warming the castle walls outside seems to stop at the mullioned windows. There is barely a face to be seen in the school that doesn't look worried or tense, and any laughter that rings through the corridors sounds shrill and unnatural and is quickly stifled.

Harry constantly repeats Dumbledore's final words to himself. "I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me.... Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." But what good are these words? Who exactly are they supposed to ask for help, when everyone is just as confused and scared as they are?

Hagrid's hint about the spiders is far easier to understand - the trouble is, there doesn't seem to be a single spider left in the castle to follow. Harry looks everywhere he goes, helped by (rather reluctantly) Ron. They are hampered, of course, by the fact that they aren't allowed to wander off on their own but have to move around the castle in a pack with the other Gryffindors. Most of their fellow students seem glad that they are being shepherded from class to class by teachers, but Harry finds it very irksome.

One person, however, seems to be thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere of terror and suspicion. Malfoy is strutting around the school as though he has just been appointed Head Boy. Harry doesn't realise what he is so pleased about until the Potions lesson about two weeks after Dumbledore and Hagrid have left, when, sitting right behind Malfoy, Harry overhears him gloating to Crabbe and Goyle.

"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore," he says, not troubling to keep his voice down. "I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst headmaster the school's ever had. Maybe we'll get a decent headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long, she's only filling in...."

Snape sweeps past Harry, making no comment about Hermione's empty seat and cauldron.

"Sir," says Malfoy loudly. "Sir, why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?"

"Now, now, Malfoy," says Snape, though he can't suppress a thin-lipped smile. "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."

"Yeah, right," says Malfoy, smirking. "I expect you'd have Father's vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job - I'll tell Father you're the best teacher here, sir -"

Snape smirks as he sweeps off around the dungeon, fortunately not spotting Seamus Finnigan, who is pretending to vomit into his cauldron.

"I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now," Malfoy goes on. "Bet you five Galleons the next one dies. It's a shame it wasn't Granger-"