Eternal Despair (Harry Potter/OC)

𝟙𝟞: Chamber of Secrets

"All those times we were in that bathroom, and she was just three toilets away," Ron said bitterly over breakfast the next morning. "We could have asked her, and now."

The search for spiders had been difficult enough. Escaping their teachers long enough to sneak into a girls' bathroom—*the* girls' bathroom, no less—right next to the scene of the first attack, was going to be nearly impossible.

But something happened during their first lesson, Transfiguration, that drove the Chamber of Secrets from their minds for the first time in weeks.

Ten minutes into class, Professor McGonagall announced that their exams would start on the first of June, one week from today.

"Exams?" howled Seamus Finnigan. "We're still having exams?" There was a loud bang as Neville Longbottom's wand slipped from his grasp, vanishing one of the legs on his desk.

Professor McGonagall restored it with a wave of her own wand and turned, frowning, to Seamus. "The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education," she said sternly. "The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard."

"Studying hard!? Sorry, but some people were busy being scared for their lives," Enzo whispered. It had never occurred to Harry that there would be exams with the castle in this state. A great deal of mutinous muttering filled the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl even more darkly.

"Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible," she said. "And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year."

Ron looked as though he'd just been told he had to go and live in the Forbidden Forest. "Can you imagine me taking exams with this?" he asked Enzo and Harry, holding up his wand, which had just started whistling loudly.

"I'll have you in my thoughts and prayers," Enzo said, patting his back.

Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast.

"I have good news," she said, and the Great Hall erupted into a cacophony of cheers and yells.

"Dumbledore's coming back!" several people yelled joyfully.

"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" squealed a girl at the Ravenclaw table.

"Quidditch matches are back on!" roared Wood excitedly.

When the hubbub subsided, Professor McGonagall continued, "Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."

There was an explosion of cheering.

Enzo looked over at the Slytherin table and wasn't at all surprised to see that Draco Malfoy hadn't joined in. Ron, however, looked happier than he'd looked in days.

"It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then!" he said to Harry. "Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time. She hasn't studied."

"It might be an act of mercy to leave her where she is till they're over," Enzo chuckled.

Just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Harry noticed that her hands were twisting in her lap.

"What's up?" said Ron, helping himself to more porridge.

Ginny didn't say anything but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table with a scared look on her face.