Secret Daughter (A Harry Potter FanFic)

Chapter 12

Snape quickly ushered Elliana down to the Slytherin common room where he told her to wait with the other students while he met with the other professors. She went and sat by the fire, noticing that she was still shaking from her discovery. There was no one else in the common room yet as the Slytherin students had to take the long way down to the dungeons in order to avoid the closed corridor. 

When students started to file in, they were all talking and trying to figure out why classes had been cancelled so suddenly. Draco spotted Elliana sitting by the fire and rushed over to join her.

"Ellie! What's going on? You didn't come back last night and then you weren't at breakfast. I was worried. Are you okay? Do you know why classes were cancelled?" Draco asked.

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry. I stayed with my father last night after our lesson, and then I overslept..." She trailed off and was saved from having to explain what happened when her father blew into the common room and all eyes turned to him.

Students quickly gathered in front of Professor Snape eager to hear what had happened. "This morning during breakfast, a student discovered a threatening message made towards the school. Professors are currently searching the school to ensure that there is no threat to your safety, but it seems so far that nothing has turned up." Snape looked around the room, carefully avoiding making eye contact with his daughter. "You are to stay inside the dorms until instructed otherwise while a sweep of the castle and grounds is completed."

A fifth year boy raised his hand and began speaking, not waiting to be called upon. "Professor, what was the threat?"

"That is none of your business Mr. Flint." Snape snapped at him before turning and stalking out of the room.

When the wall sealed behind him, the room immediately erupted into buzzing conversation as students speculated. Everyone was talking around Elliana, most not noticing when she didn't contribute to the conversation. Draco noticed and nodded over towards a quiet corner of the common room once some of the crowd had dissipated a bit. He stood and Elliana followed him over.

"Alright Snape, give it up. What do you know?" He asked knowingly as she took a seat next to him.

She looked cautiously around the room before answering him quietly. "I was the one who found the message." Draco's eyes momentarily went wide as he frantically motioned for her to continue. "I was on my way up to breakfast and I found Mrs. Norris hanging petrified in the corridor, and there was a message written on the wall- in what looked like blood."

"What did it say?" Draco whispered urgently.

"'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware.' But I have no idea what it means. The professors seemed pretty freaked about it though."

"Chamber of Secrets... sounds interesting."

"Yeah, as long as you're not an 'enemy of the heir.' Dumbledore said it's a myth, but the story is that some kind of monster lives in the chamber." 

"I'll see what I can find out, but in the meantime, you probably shouldn't be wandering the halls by yourself. You don't want to get eaten by the big bad chamber monster." They both laughed. Elliana felt much better after talking with Draco. He didn't seem scared and neither did the room full of students that she was surrounded by. She noticed that at some point during their conversation she had stopped shaking and had relaxed back into her chair.

They spent the rest of the day in the common room catching up on homework. Draco was going through some first year charms with Ellie when house several house elves came in and set up lunch for the students. 

By dinner, Dumbledore had given the students the all-clear to leave the dorms as long as students stayed in no less than pairs. During dinner, Snape approached the Slytherin table and stopped behind Elliana and her friends. She turned to see him looking directly at her. "Elliana. come with me?"

"Where?"

"Your lesson." Snape said flatly.

"But classes were cancelled today."

"Not for you."

"Fine. I'll meet you in your office." Elliana said, returning to her dinner.

"No. You'll come with me now."

She looked back up, taken aback and slightly frightened by the tone of his voice. She knew not to argue with him so she got up, grabbing her bag and followed her father out of the hall, giving a small wave to her friends as she left.

"You know you don't have to be so mean." Elliana said from behind her father as she followed him down the empty corridor.

"Excuse me?" He asked freezing and turning to stare down at her. "In case you don't remember, students aren't allowed to be walking the corridors alone at the moment. And you seem to also have forgotten that just this morning you found a threatening message and a petrified cat in the hallway. So no, I was not going to allow you to wander down to my office alone in the middle of the night."

She winced at his harsh admonishment but realized his actions were probably rational. "So does that mean the Chamber of Secrets is real?"

"It means I am not taking chances with your life." And he turned and quickened his pace until they reached his office. 

Once inside, Elliana asked, "Are we going to work on occlumency again?" She hoped the answer was no after how horribly it had gone the night before. 

"No. We'll work on regular coursework tonight."

Elliana let out a sigh of relief. She eagerly grabbed her charms book out of her bag and set it on the table. "I practiced some spells today with Draco. I could show you."

"Not charms tonight. Let's work on defense against the darks arts."

*              *              *

A few weeks passed uneventfully. Elliana attended her classes during the day, and at night she would return to her father's study to practice. She excelled in most of her reviews, but continued to struggle with occlumency as she panicked every time they practiced. 

Word had spread around the school about the Chamber of Secrets but when nothing more came of the threats, the gossip slowly subsided. That was, until someone stumbled upon Nearly Headless Nick and Justin Finch-Fletchley petrified in a corridor.