Clara Diggory, Girl of Secrets - a HP fanfic

Chapter 15 - The Chamber

Harry's POV

"All those times we were in that bathroom, and she was just three toilets away," Said Ron bitterly, "And we could've asked her, and now..."

It was hard enough looking for spiders. Now we were being escorted everywhere, escaping for long enough to go into a girls' bathroom, a girls' bathroom right next to the scene of the first attack, was going to be impossible.

However, in Transfiguration, an announcement came that cleared our minds of thoughts about the Chamber of Secrets for the first time in weeks. Ten minutes into our lesson, Professor McGonagall told us that our exams would start on the first of June, one week from today.

"Exams?" Seamus Finnegan exclaimed. "We're still getting exams?"

The Professor frowned at him. "The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to recieve your education," She said sternly. "The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all revising hard."
Revising hard? I hadn't even considered the thought of having exams. There was plenty of disagreeing muttering around the room, causing McGonagall to scowl even more darkly.

"Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible," She said. "And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learnt this year."
What have I learnt this year? Nothing that would come in that handy in an exam, that's for sure.

I turned to Ron, who looked as if he'd just been told to go and live in the Forbidden Forest.

"Can you imagine me taking exams with this?" He asked, holding up his broken wand.

***

Three days before our first exam, another announcement was made by Professor McGonagall at breakfast.

"I have good news," She said, and the Great Hall erupted.

"Dumbledore's coming back!"

"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!"

"Quidditch matches are back on!"

(The last one was Oliver Wood.)

When the noise had died down, McGonagall said,

"Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need to hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."

That meant...
Hermione and Clara!

The hall exploded with cheering. I looked over to the Slytherin table and saw Draco Malfoy celebrating just as much as anyone else, earning a few weird looks from Crabbe and Goyle. Beside me, Ron was overjoyed.

"It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then!" He said to me. "Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! Mine you, she'll go mad when she finds out we've got exams in three days time. She hasn't revised. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over."

Just then, Ginny came over and sat next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and I noticed her hands twisting in her lap.

"What's up?" Asked Ron, helping himself to more toast.

Ginny didn't speak, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table with a scared look on her face that reminded me of someone, though I couldn't think who.

"Spit it out," Said Ron, watching her.

It came to me suddenly who Ginny resembled at that moment. She was rocking backwards and forwards slightly in her chair, just like Dobby did when he was about to reveal information.
(A/N: yeah, I didn't include Dobby much up to this point, because it was mostly about Clara. However, Dobby becomes more relevant to be life in the later books.)