The Mystery of the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 7: The Writing on the wall

That night Etta had a dream. She dreamt she was a cat wandering the corridors of Hogwarts. Etta had seemed to be following a sound heard through the walls, a slithering sound like an animal moving through a tunnel behind the walls. Suddenly, she came round a corner and saw a pool of water across the floor and stopped.

The reflection of a huge pair of yellow eyes glittered in the water and the dream ended abruptly in darkness. When Etta woke in the morning she was more convinced than ever that the voice she and Harry had heard, had been real, not their imagination. The cat had also seemed to hear a large, reptilian creature moving behind the walls. She decided not to mention this to Harry at the moment and wait on events. 

Everyone was looking forward to the Halloween Feast. The aroma of baked pumpkin seemed to have travelled all over the castle by lunchtime. The Feast itself was colourful and completely delicious. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Etta and Ginny left the feast a bit earlier as they had eaten as much as they possibly could, including Ron who did leave a little reluctantly. As they passed by the ground floor corridor, Etta heard the voice again.

"Rip...tear...kill..."

She stopped walking abruptly and hissed to Harry, "Did you hear that?"

Harry stopped and listened.

In the silence he heard the voice say, "So hungry for so long."

Both Etta and Harry heard the voice say, "...Kill...time to kill..."

"What is it saying?" asked Ron.

Harry quickly told them. The voice was growing fainter. Harry was sure it was moving away-moving upwards. A mixture of fear and excitement gripped him as he stared at the dark ceiling; how could it be moving upwards? Was it a phantom, to whom stone ceilings didn't matter.

"This way," he shouted and he began to run, up the stairs. Harry sprinted up the marble staircase to the first floor, the other four clattering behind him.

"Harry what are we-" Ginny began, but Harry shushed her.

He strained his ears. Distantly, from the floor above and growing fainter still, he heard the voice, "...I smell blood....I SMELL BLOOD!" His stomach lurched.

"It's going to kill someone!" he shouted and ignoring Ron, Hermione and Ginny's bewildered faces, he ran up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to listen over his own pounding footsteps, Etta bringing up the rear. Harry hurtled around the whole of the second floor, the others panting behind  him, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage.

"Harry what was all that about?" said Ron, wiping sweat off his face, "I couldn't hear anything..."

But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor, "Look!"

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached, slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches. 

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"What's that thing-hanging underneath?" said Ron, a slight quiver in his voice.

As they edged nearer, Harry almost slipped over: there was a large puddle of water on the floor. Etta grabbed him and all five of them inched towards the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. They realised what it was at once and leapt backwards with a splash. Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was as stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring. For a few seconds, they didn't move.

Then Ginny said, "Let's get out of here."

"Shouldn't we try and help-" Etta began.

"Trust me," said Ginny, "We don't want to be found here."

But it was too late. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were crashing into the passage from both ends. The chatter and bustle died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Etta and Ginny stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students, pressing forward to see the grisly sight. Then someone shouted through the quiet.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" it was Draco Malfoy.

He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.