A Halliwell at Hogwarts: The Chamber of Secrets

VIII - Annoying Butts Get Kicked... Ungrateful Butts Get Saved

Sunday morning Persephone was shaken awake by an anxious Hermione.

"Mione... what's going on?" Persephone asked sleepily.

"Sephie," she said in a whisper, "there's been an attack."

Those words worked as a bucket of ice-cold water on Persephone.

"Wha— When?!... Who?"

"Yesterday night... Colin Creevey."

"Colin— b-but how?"

"I don't know. They said he was going to visit Harry in the Hospital Wing and they found him in the stairs... He was Petrified, Sephie" she said, her voice shaking.

Persephone didn't know what to think as an intense feeling of fear seeped into her. Somebody had attacked a boy, an innocent... just because he was a Muggle-born. Hermione might be the next one. All of a sudden a chill ran down her spine and another realization hit her like a truck. The attack had happened disturbingly close to the Hospital Wing, where Harry was staying. Had it been a coincidence?

"We need to start that potion, Mione!"

For that same reason, Persephone, Ron and Hermione were currently in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, in one of the stalls, working on the Polyjuice Potion. If there had still been any doubt about the realization of the potion, now they had completely dissipated. The threat to Muggle borns wasn't a mere possibility anymore, it was a reality.

"Do you have idea about how did Malfoy petrify Colin?" asked Ron, observing Persephone preparing the ingredients.

"I don't know" muttered Hermione dejectedly.

Persephone hummed pensively. "I don't know that much about Petrification. The first thing that comes to my mind are Gorgons..."

"Gorgons? You think the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Gorgon?"

"It's just an hypothesis, Mione."

"Yeah, a terrifying one" said Ron shivering.

The two girls were adding leeches to the cauldron, when they heard the door of the bathroom open. Ron and Hermione started to panic, but somehow Persephone managed to stay lucid. Pressing her lips in a tight line she locked the stall's door and put her hands over both of her friends' mouths. The moment she heard a familiar voice though, her tense shoulders relaxed and her hands fell to her sides.

"It's me".

The sudden surprise made Hermione drop the ladle into the cauldron causing a clunk and a splash. She gasped and looked through the keyhole to see who it was.

"Harry!" she said. "You gave us such a fright — come in. How's your arm?"

"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall.

"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."

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

"We already know — we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning."

"And Hermione told me earlier this morning," Persephone added, without looking away from the potion, "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 Persephone tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night."