𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 | √

⎡19⎦

About a week after the corridor incident, I sat down in my seat next to Draco in Transfiguration, waiting for class to start.

"Could I have your attention, please?" Mcgonagall asked as she got up from her seat and walked on the other side of her desk.

"Right. Now, today, we will be transforming animals into water goblets."

Draco and I looked at each other impressed.

"Like so," Mcgonagall tapped her wand three times on the bird in the front. "One, two, three, Vera verto."

Instantly, the bird turned into a silver goblet. The class began to murmur in awe.

"Now it's your turn. Well, who would like to go first?" she stepped down from her desk. "Ah! Mr. Weasley. One, two, three. Vera verto."

Ron nodded and cleared his throat. He tapped three times on his rat.

"Vera verto!"

Instead of turning silver, his rat turned into a squeaking, hairy goblet with a moving tail. Everyone started laughing as Ron picked up the rat-goblet and inspected it with disgust.

"That wand needs replacing, Mr. Weasley," Mcgonagall told him.

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about...the Chamber of Secrets." she said.

We all looked at McGonagall expectantly. She seemed to be weighing the idea in her head. Eventually. Mcgonagall took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Well, very well. Well, you all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin," she began pacing around the classroom. "Now, three of the founders co-existed quite harmoniously. One did not. Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, 'pure-bloods.' Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school."

Mcgonagall paused.

"Now, according to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. Though, shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber and unleash the horror within, and by so doing purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic."

"Muggle borns," Hermione concluded.

McGonagall pointed her wand at her to show she was correct.

"Well, naturally, the school had been searched many times. No such chamber has been found."

"Professor? What exactly does legend tell us lies within the Chamber?" asked Hermione.

"The Chamber is said to be home to something that only the Heir of Slytherin can control. It is said to be the home... of a monster."

. . .

When classes ended for the day and I found Astoria in a corridor alone and walked over to her. She stood up as I arrived and fell into pace with me.

"What do you think of the Chamber of Secrets? Do you think it exists?" she asked.

"This might sound crazy, but I kinda do. Think about it. If only the heir of Slytherin can open it, and it hasn't been opened yet, it means there is the possibility of an heir of Slytherin existing, and only now being at Hogwarts, making the Chamber open," I replied as headed into the Slytherin common room.