Harry Potter and the Lighting Lord

Chapter 17

The next two months at Hogwarts went rapidly. Harry had started Quidditch practice with the Ravenclaw team and it was going quite well. He finished the OWL syllabus and had started on NEWT material. Daphne had also taken to studying at a furious pace; while she knew she couldn't keep up with Harry, she was still quite ahead of her peers and had started on Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Pretty soon, Halloween approached. As it was a Saturday, Harry and Daphne spent their time in the Room of Requirement.

They were on their way to dinner when a storm began outside. Harry's heart started beating faster as he knew what that meant and just as he had suspected, he heard Aquila's voice in his mind warning him about danger. Harry swallowed and gripped Daphne' hand tighter, hoping nothing bad happened.

The feast carried on as normal and nothing strange happened. Just as he was finishing dessert, he heard the voice again. It was the same, cold, murderous voice as before.

". . . rip . . .tear . . . kill . . ."

Harry dropped his spoon on the table, but no one noticed. He closed his eyes and extended his senses, but didn't detect anything. Whatever it was, he couldn't sense it. He seemed to hear a distant echo; he didn't know where it was coming from.

". . . so hungry . . . kill. . . kill this time . . ." Harry's hands were shaking badly.

". . . I smell blood . . . I SMELL BLOOD!" His face was pale and white as a sheet. It was going to kill someone. Was he the only one who had heard that voice? People started getting up and going back to their dormitories. Harry silently walked towards Ravenclaw Tower along with the rest of them, but people suddenly stopped and started whispering.

"What's with the hold up?" Harry asked.

He went forward and saw Mrs Norris frozen and on the ground, unmoving. Harry's breath was caught in his throat. Was the cat dead? He looked at the wall where people were pointing and whispering.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Harry suddenly got the image of an enormous room with statues of snakes on either side, but the memory ended just as quickly as it began. The Chamber of Secrets sounded so familiar, but he felt the information was just beyond his reach.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods" shouted Draco Malfoy gleefully.

Red hot anger erupted inside Harry. While he hated Muggles, he deeply cared about the lives and treatment of muggleborns. So when the ponce shouted out that insult, he took his wand and cursed him. Draco screamed as painful boils erupted on his face.

"DON'T USE THAT DISGUSTING WORD IS FRONT OF ME!" said Harry in a quiet voice, but with a furious expression on his face. A few people around him stepped back as his aura flared.

"Move aside! What is going on here?" asked Professor McGonagall as she stepped forward along with the rest of the teachers and Filch.

"What is wrong with Mr Malfoy? Why is he shrieking like a harpy?" she asked crossly.

"That would be my fault, Professor McGonagall. He used the derogatory M-word so I hexed him" said Harry, keeping his face calm.

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Thank you for your confession Mr Potter, but it will be ten points from Ravenclaw for attacking another student. Mr Malfoy, if I ever catch you uttering that word it will be detention" she said.

That was when she noticed the frozen cat on the ground and the message on the wall. She gasped as she realised the meaning behind the words. Filch came up and saw that his cat was petrified.