Miranda Black and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 8 - The Happenings on Halloween

October came after many long days of work and study. It was getting very cold and Madam Pomfrey was always on the move with a number of students and professors coming down with colds and flus. Ginny was bullied into taking some Peppernup (a special medicine for getting colds away) by her brothers, and her head kept steaming like it was on fire. A few days before Halloween, I woke up to find Ginny looking distressed.

"What's up Ginny?" I asked lazily.

"Oh, it's that diary!" Ginny replied.

"What about it?" I asked, sitting up.

"It's Tom. He's being...evil. He kept writing things to me that weren't right at all...things about murder and death and so on," Ginny replied.

"I told you it could be dangerous," I exclaimed, "Where is it?"

"I tried to flush it down the toilet but it didn't work. Now it's in this old bathroom," Ginny told me.

"I hope no-one goes in there and picks it up," I said.

"They won't," Ginny said. "It's out-of-order,"

"If you say so," I said.

We got changed and went down to breakfast. We saw Harry come in behind us, looking cold and tired.

"Everything okay Harry?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's just Wood. He's getting us up early so we can practice and it's torture. I'm cold and hungry!" Harry said grumpily.

"Hate to be you right now," Ginny mumbled.

"Come on, let's find Ron and Hermione," I said.

"There!" Harry exclaimed. We rushed over and sat down.

"Hermione, Ron! I have news. Nick invited us to his Death-day party," Harry announced as soon as we were within talking distance.

"Oh, cool. When is it?" Ron asked.

"Halloween night," Harry replied.

"But that means we'll miss out on the feast!" Ron exclaimed.

"I know that. But I think he really wants us to come," Harry said.

"Well, parties usually have food," I said.

"I guess so," Hermione said, "It would be very interesting to go and see what a Death-day party is like,"

"Yeah, okay. Oh! - something else. I came in from Quidditch practice and I was dripping mud everywhere. Filch found me, got annoyed and took me to his office.Nick made a distraction for me outside, and while Filch was investigating I found this letter on his desk. It was all about this thing called a Kwikspell course, and it seemed to be a course for people unable to perform magic well. When Filch came back he noticed the pamphlet had moved and he got all edgy. So he let me go!" Harry told us.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I've heard of that course. A lot of Squibs use it..."

"Filch is a Squib?" Ron hid his laughter.

"Would explain how he's so cranky at cleaning up messes. He can't use magic!" Ginny said. Everyone nodded.

-

A few days later, it was Halloween. Harry had convinced Hermione and Ron to go to the Death-day party with him. Ron was a bit reluctant but he eventually decided to attend, and the trio left just before the feast started.

The feast was great. The hall had been incredibly decorated with the largest pumpkins I'd ever seen, and general Halloween decorations that looked a lot more realistic than Muggle's. Ginny left for some unknown reason midway through the feast, but I hardly noticed. I was left sitting with Fred, George, and Daniel and they were very entertaining. When the feast finished, I walked with those three boys back to the Gryffindor common room. We came to a stop when we saw Harry, Ron and Hermione standing by a wall that was splattered in blood and the floor covered in water. I looked at them in disgust.