Lillian 'Anna' Potter || Chamber Of Secrets

Chapter Eight: The Bad Beginning

Anna gasped in horror. The ‘Chamber of Secrets’ sounded too cryptic to be anything good. She kept looking around the room - trying to find a clue, but she only found Mrs. Norris - Mr. Filch’s cat, hanging from a lamp.

“Should we...help her?” Harry asked, following Anna’s gaze as it settled upon the cat. Ron shook his head, looking distracted. “No, trust me. We don’t want to be caught here.” He said. Almost on cue, the halls were suddenly filled with students, all of them staring at the scene.

“Grumbling gargoyles.” Anna silently cursed, wishing she had worn a black shirt to hide the blood that was all over her white one - making it ten times more noticeable. “What’s going on here?!” She heard a voice yell as Mr. Filch hobbled through the crowd when he saw Mrs. Norris, and paled.

“My cat!” He said in horror, turning behind him to focus on Anna. “You..you killed my cat!” He bellowed in rage. “You’ve killed her! I’ll kill you too! I’ll-” Filch was saying, causing Anna to shrink back at the venom in his voice. “Argus!” Dumbledore was now here. He silently observed what was happening in front of him.

“Come with me, Argus.” He said quietly. He turned to the rest of them. “You too, Miss. Potter. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger.” Anna knew not the argue, keeping her head down in shame - hoping her curls would cover her face. Lockhart stepped forward eagerly. “My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs. Please feel free-”

“Thank you, Gilderoy.” said Dumbledore. The crowd parted as they passed, watching them and whispering. Anna only looked up when they had made it into Lockhart’s classroom. She watched as Dumbledore placed the still body of Mrs. Norris on his desk as he began to examine her.

“It was definitely a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian Torture - I’ve seen it used so many times, so unlucky I wasn’t there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her…” Lockhart kept rambling on and on about more horrible and painful ways of how Mrs. Norris died, and Anna couldn’t stop the waves of guilt that came with Filch’s sobs.

If Mrs. Norris was dead...it would be Anna’s fault. Anna knew that whatever happened to Mrs. Norris hadn’t been her doing, but what if she was dead because Anna hadn’t acted fast enough? Because Anna was too distracted with Cedric to notice her distressed meows as someone tortured her. Anna wasn’t much of a cat person, but it didn’t mean that she was a monster.

“She’s not dead, Argus.” Dumbledore suddenly said, causing Anna’s train of thought to halt as she looked up. Filch’s sobs stopped, almost as immediate as Lockhart’s advice. “Not...dead?” Filch choked. “But why’s she all...all stiff and frozen?” Dumbledore rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “She has been petrified. But how..I cannot say.”

“Ask her!” Filch shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at Anna. “No first year could have done this.” Dumbledore said firmly. “It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced-” He tried to explain, but Filch kept shouting. “She did it! She did it! You saw what she wrote on the wall!” He turned to Harry. “He found - in my office - he knows I’m a..I’m a..He knows I’m a Squib!” He turned to Anna. “And he probably told his sister, who’s now out to get everyone!”

“I didn’t tell Anna anything.” Harry stated calmly. “And I don’t even know what a Squib is.” He said. “Rubbish!” Filch snarled angrily. “He saw my Kwikspell letter!” He exclaimed. “If I might speak, Headmaster.” said Snape, who had been hanging back in the shadows.