The Granger Twins

Chapter 11

Selena woke up on Sunday morning to find the dormitory blazing with winter sunlight and her arm in a cast. She sat up quickly and looked over at Colin's bed, but it had been blocked from view by the high curtains Selena had changed behind yesterday. Seeing that she was awake, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with a breakfast tray and then began asking if she needed another potion.

"All in order," she said as she fed herself porridge. "When you've finished eating, you may leave."

Selena and Harry dressed as quickly as they could and hurried off to Gryffindor Tower, desperate to tell Ron and Hermione about Colin and Dobby, but they weren't there. Selena and Harry left to look for them, wondering where they could have got to and feeling slightly hurt that they weren't interested in whether they got out or not.

As Selena and Harry passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it, looking in far better spirits than last time they'd met.

"Oh, hello, Selena, Harry," he said. "Excellent flying yesterday, really excellent. Gryffindor has just taken the lead for the House Cup - you each earned twenty-five points!"

"You haven't seen Ron or Hermione, have you?" said Harry.

"No, I haven't," said Percy, his smile fading. "I hope Ron's not in another girls' toilet ..."

They forced a laugh, watched Percy walk out of sight, and then headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The duo couldn't see why Ron and Hermione would be in there again, but after making sure that neither Filch nor any prefects were around, they opened the door and heard their voices coming from a locked stall.

"It's us," Harry said, closing the door behind them. There was a clunk, a splash, and a gasp from within the stall and he saw Hermione's eye peering through the keyhole.

"Selena! Harry!" she said. "You gave us such a fright - come in. How're your arms?"

"Fine," said Selena and Harry, squeezing into the stall. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Selena they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires was a speciality of Hermione's.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained as Harry, with difficulty, locked the stall again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."

Selena and Harry started to tell them about Colin, but Hermione interrupted.

"We already know - we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning. That's why we decided we'd better get going--"

"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better," snarled Ron. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin."

"There's something else," said Harry, watching Hermione tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit us in the middle of the night."

Ron and Hermione looked up, amazed. Selena and Harry told them everything Dobby had told them - or hadn't told them. Hermione and Ron listened with their mouths open.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" Hermione said.

"This settles it," said Ron in a triumphant voice. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear old Draco how to do it. It's obvious. Wish Dobby'd told you what kind of monster's in there, though. I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school."

"Maybe it can make itself invisible," said Hermione, prodding leeches to the bottom of the cauldron. "Or maybe it can disguise itself - pretend to be a suit of armour or something - I've read about Chameleon Ghouls--"