Always Together

22. Inside the Chamber

Dedication to @TheOneTrickPony because of your awesome support! So, what you have all been waiting for: Caitlyn and her daddy dearest meet face to ghost!

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Chapter 22 | inside the chamber

During the next few days, Caitlyn heard of a little incident between Draco, Ron and Hermione. She heard of how Draco had called Hermione a 'mudblood' and Ron tried to cast a spell on him, but like his wand was broken, the spell rebounded and hit Ron instead. He spent a long time throwing up disgusting slugs.

After that, Caitlyn gave Draco a lecture of how he couldn't keep bullying people — esspecially her friends —, on which he replied with 'that's what you think'. He used the same phrase again when she tried explaining the blood status of a person was out of their control and that being a muggle-born didn't matter — nor did being a pure-blood. He actually responded with the annoying sentence to everything she said. After that, she spent three whole days without speaking to him at all.

Caitlyn wrote to her biological father very often in his diary. He had explained his plan to her — she needed to open the Chamber of Secrets — a secret chamber in the Hogwarts castle. The Chamber had been created by Salazar Slytherin when he was alive. It stood in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He said she'd have to speak Parseltongue — snake language — to open it. He also said she was the Heir of Slytherin — how intriguing ...

However, he didn't explain the whole plan. But she didn't care. She trusted him — maybe too much. She did everything he told her to do. She didn't even blink. It was unexplainable. One day, she went to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was above the Great Hall. Myrtle was a ghost who haunted the toilet, frequently flooding it when she had a burst of emotion.

It was very gloomy once she walked in the bathroom, with cracked and spotty mirrors and chipped stone sinks. The doors to the cubicles were flaking and scratched, and the damp floor was only reflected by stubs of candles. She went up to the lavatory and noticed in one of them, a little snake drawn under the water tap. That was the entrance.

"Open," she demanded.

Her voice was like the hissing of a snake, so subtle and creepy. It would have given her the chills if she was wide awake, but she wasn't She wasn't thinking either. It was like if something had consumed her. She felt really light, her body was as a feather. Her mind was somewhere else. It seemed like she was being guided.

The lavatory sank down, leaving a large pipe showing. Large enough for her to fit there. Not thinking, she threw herself there and slid down an endless dark tube. It seemed to go on for hours, days, ages. Then she hit a wet floor. She got up quickly and looked around. There were many ways to go, but in front of her was a dark tunnel.

She walked along it and got to a solid wall on which two serpents were carved, their eyes with set great emerald eyes. She said 'open' again and the serpents parted, a door opened and another dark room was in front of her. She took out her wand and said, 'Lumus'. It all became visible. There were columns holding the ceiling and a greenish gloom lighting it up. Ahead, there was a tall boy. He had short straight and nice eyes. The weird thing — he was in black and white.

"T-Tom Riddle?" Caitlyn asked expectantly. Somehow, she had come back to her own self. The boy nodded. "Dear goodness, you're-you're a ghost!" He was a very handsome ghost actually — he was wearing Slytherin robes. Wicked. "I thought you said you —" but she gut herself off. "I'm Caitlyn."

"Ah, I know. Recognised you as I saw you. Except for the eyes, you're a dead ring of your mother, you know?" Tom Riddle said. His voice was cold and distant. Caitlyn tried touching him but her hand passed through his stomach. She was sad with that. "I'll come back to your world. I'll get a body of my own. I need your final word. Will you help me by any means?" She nodded. "Promise not to back off?"

"I promise," she confirmed.

"Good," he said deeply. His voice got colder and colder. "In seconds, a basilisk will appear from there," he pointed, "so don't look it in the eyes if you don't want to die. The basilisk will be the key for all this." He faked a smile. "You have to succeed. For me."

For you — my birth father, she thought to herself.

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"And Lockhart didn't hear it?" asked Caitlyn surprised, but at the same time confused. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," replied Harry. "I heard someone talking. The voice said it wanted to kill ..." he hesitated for a second, "... me. Someone want to kill me."

"Oh, like that's any news," said Ron. "I think this year is just going to be as troubled as the last one." Caitlyn chuckled. "So what class you got next, CT?"

"Herbology with Ravenclaw," she answered. "See you around, guys. Have a nice class with Hufflepuff."

They nodded as Caitlyn walked to her Herbology class in the greenhouse.

Once there, she saw everyone was there already. Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the center of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different-colored earmuffs were lying on the bench. When Caitlyn had taken his place between Spencer and Pansy, she said, "We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"

No one put their hand in the air.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," said Sprout. Caitlyn did not care for Herbolgy, and she didn't bother to study ahead like in other classes. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state. The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

Nobody put their hand in the air again.

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," she said promptly. "Now, these Mandrakes we have here are still very young, so their cries aren't lethal."

She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing there in rows.

"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.

There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy.

"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right — earmuffs on."

Caitlyn snapped the earmuffs over her ears. They shut out sound completely. Professor Sprout put the pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.

Caitlyn let out a gasp of surprise that no one could hear.

Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs. Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Four to a tray — there is a large supply of pots here — compost in the sacks over there — and be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething."

She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. That was going to be an interesting class ...

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So, you've voted your numbers. Click on the external link to have a 'sneak peek' of something Caitlyn'll say (which was inspired by Once Upon a Time in Wonderland), please.