Harry Potter 02 & The Chamber Of Secrets (Illustrated) (23 page)

‘Caught in the act!’
Ernie yelled, his face stark white, pointing his finger dramatically at Harry.

‘That will do, Macmillan!’ said Professor McGonagall sharply.

Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene; Peeves always loved chaos. As the teachers bent over Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, examining them, Peeves broke into song:

‘Oh Potter, you rotter, oh what have you done?

You’re killing off students, you think it’s good fun -‘

‘That’s enough Peeves!’ barked Professor McGonagall, and Peeves zoomed away backwards, with his tongue out at Harry.

Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department, but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nearly Headless Nick. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. This Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft. This left Harry and Professor McGonagall alone together.

‘This way, Potter,’ she said.

‘Professor,’ said Harry at once, ‘I swear I didn’t -‘

‘This is out of my hands, Potter,’ said Professor McGonagall curtly.

They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.

‘Sherbet lemon!’ she said. This was evidently a password, because the gargoyle sprang suddenly to life, and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Harry couldn’t fail to be amazed. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase which was moving smoothly upwards, like an escalator. As he and Professor McGonagall stepped onto it, Harry heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upwards in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Harry could see a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffon.

He knew where he was being taken. This must be where Dumbledore lived.

They stepped off the stone staircase at the top and Professor McGonagall rapped on the door. It opened silently and they entered. Professor McGonagall told Harry to wait, and left him there, alone.

Harry looked around. One thing was certain: of all the teachers’ offices Harry had visited so far this year, Dumbledore’s was by far the most interesting. If he hadn’t been scared out of his wits that he was about to be thrown out of school, he would have been very pleased to have a chance to look around it.

It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard’s hat - the
Sorting Hat.

Harry hesitated. He cast a wary eye around the sleeping witches and wizards on the walls. Surely it couldn’t hurt if he took the Hat down and tried it on again? Just to see … just to make sure it
had
put him in the right house.

He walked quietly around the desk, lifted the Hat from its shelf, and lowered it slowly onto his head. It was much too large and slipped down over his eyes, just as it had done the last time he’d put it on. Harry stared at the black inside of the Hat, waiting. Then a small voice said in his ear, ‘Bee in your bonnet, Harry Potter?’

‘Er, yes,’ Harry muttered. ‘Er - sorry to bother you - I wanted to ask -‘

‘You’ve been wondering whether I put you in the right house,’ said the Hat smartly. ‘Yes … you were particularly difficult to place. But I stand by what I said before -‘ Harry’s heart leapt ‘- you
would
have done well in Slytherin.’

Harry’s stomach plummeted. He grabbed the point of the Hat and pulled it off. It hung limply in his hand, grubby and faded. Harry pushed it back onto its shelf, feeling sick.

‘You’re wrong,’ he said aloud to the still and silent Hat. It didn’t move. Harry backed away, watching it. Then a strange, gagging noise behind him made him wheel around.

He wasn’t alone after all. Standing on a golden perch behind the door was a decrepit-looking bird which resembled a half-plucked turkey. Harry stared at it and the bird looked balefully back, making its gagging noise again. Harry thought it looked very ill. Its eyes were dull and, even as Harry watched, a couple more feathers fell out of its tail.

Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore’s pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when the bird burst into flames.

Harry yelled in shock and backed away into the desk. He looked feverishly around in case there was a glass of water somewhere, but couldn’t see one. The bird, meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave one loud shriek and next second there was nothing but a smouldering pile of ash on the floor.

The office door opened. Dumbledore came in, looking very sombre.

‘Professor,’ Harry gasped, ‘your bird - I couldn’t do anything - he just caught fire -‘

To Harry’s astonishment, Dumbledore smiled.

‘About time, too,’ he said. ‘He’s been looking dreadful for days, I’ve been telling him to get a move on.’

He chuckled at the stunned look on Harry’s face.

‘Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry. Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes. Watch him …’

Harry looked down in time to see a tiny, wrinkled, new-born bird poke its head out of the ashes. It was quite as ugly as the old one.

‘It’s a shame you had to see him on a Burning Day,’ said Dumbledore, seating himself behind his desk. ‘He’s really very handsome most of the time: wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers and they make highly
faithful
pets.’

In the shock of Fawkes catching fire, Harry had forgotten what he was there for, but it all came back to him as Dumbledore settled himself in the high-backed chair behind the desk and fixed Harry with his penetrating, light-blue stare.

Before Dumbledore could speak another word, however, the door of the office flew open with an almighty bang and Hagrid burst in, a wild look in his eyes, his balaclava perched on top of his shaggy black head and the dead rooster still swinging from his hand.

‘It wasn’ Harry, Professor Dumbledore!’ said Hagrid urgently. ‘I was talkin’ ter him
seconds
before that kid was found, he never had time, sir …’

Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere.

‘… It can’t’ve bin him, I’ll swear it in front o’ the Ministry o’ Magic if I have to …’

‘Hagrid, I -‘

‘… Yeh’ve got the wrong boy, sir, I
know
Harry never -‘

‘Hagrid!’
said Dumbledore loudly. ‘I do
not
think that Harry attacked those people.’

‘Oh,’ said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. ‘Right. I’ll wait outside then, Headmaster.’

And he stomped out looking embarrassed.

‘You don’t think it was me, Professor?’ Harry repeated hopefully, as Dumbledore brushed rooster feathers off his desk.

‘No, Harry, I don’t,’ said Dumbledore, though his face was sombre again. ‘But I still want to talk to you.’

Harry waited nervously while Dumbledore considered him, the tips of his long fingers together.

‘I must ask you, Harry, whether there is anything you’d like to tell me,’ he said gently. ‘Anything at all.’

Harry didn’t know what to say. He thought of Malfoy shouting, ‘You’ll be next, Mudbloods!’ and of the Polyjuice Potion, simmering away in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Then he thought of the disembodied voice he had heard twice and remembered what Ron had said:
‘Hearing voices no one else can hear isn’t a good sign, even in the wizarding world.’
He thought, too, about what everyone was saying about him, and his growing dread that he was somehow connected with Salazar Slytherin …

‘No,’ said Harry, ‘there isn’t anything, Professor.’

*

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had hitherto been nervousness into real panic. Curiously, it was Nearly Headless Nick’s fate that seemed to worry people most. What could possibly do that to a ghost, people asked each other; what terrible power could harm someone who was already dead? There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that students could go home for Christmas.

‘At this rate, we’ll be the only ones left,’ Ron told Harry and Hermione. ‘Us, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it’s going to be.’

Crabbe and Goyle, who always did whatever Malfoy did, had signed up to stay over the holidays too. But Harry was glad that most people were leaving. He was tired of people skirting around him in the corridors, as though he was about to sprout fangs or spit poison; tired of all the muttering, pointing and hissing as he passed.

Fred and George, however, found all this very funny. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, ‘Make way for the heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through …’

Percy was deeply disapproving of this behaviour.

‘It is
not
a laughing matter,’ he said coldly.

‘Oh, get out of the way, Percy,’ said Fred. ‘Harry’s in a hurry.’

‘Yeah, he’s nipping off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant,’ said George, chortling.

Ginny didn’t find it amusing either.

‘Oh,
don’t,’
she wailed every time Fred asked Harry loudly who he was planning to attack next, or George pretended to ward Harry off with a large clove of garlic when they met.

Harry didn’t mind; it made him feel better that Fred and George, at least, thought the idea of his being Slytherin’s heir was quite ludicrous. But their antics seemed to be aggravating Draco Malfoy, who looked increasingly sour each time he saw them at it.

‘It’s because he’s
bursting
to say it’s really him,’ said Ron knowingly. ‘You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you’re getting all the credit for his dirty work.’

‘Not for long,’ said Hermione in a satisfied tone. ‘The Polyjuice Potion’s nearly ready. We’ll be getting the truth out of him any day now.’

*

At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Harry found it peaceful, rather than gloomy, and enjoyed the fact that he, Hermione and the Weasleys had the run of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they could play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and practise duelling in private. Fred, George and Ginny had chosen to stay at school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with Mr and Mrs Weasley. Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish behaviour, didn’t spend much time in the Gryffindor common room. He had already told them pompously that
he
was only staying over Christmas because it was his duty as a Prefect to support the teachers during this troubled time.

Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. Harry and Ron, the only ones left in their dormitory, were woken very early by Hermione, who burst in, fully dressed and carrying presents for them both.

‘Wake up,’ she said loudly, pulling back the curtains at the window.

‘Hermione - you’re not supposed to be in here,’ said Ron, shielding his eyes against the light.

‘Merry Christmas to you, too,’ said Hermione, throwing him his present. ‘I’ve been up for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the Potion. It’s ready.’

Harry sat up, suddenly wide awake.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Positive,’ said Hermione, shifting Scabbers the rat so that she could sit down on the end of his four-poster. ‘If we’re going to do it, I say it should be tonight.’

At that moment, Hedwig swooped into the room, carrying a very small package in her beak.

‘Hello,’ said Harry happily, as she landed on his bed, ‘are you speaking to me again?’

She nibbled his ear in an affectionate sort of way, which was a far better present than the one which she had brought him, which turned out to be from the Dursleys. They had sent Harry a toothpick and a note telling him to find out whether he’d be able to stay at Hogwarts for the summer holidays, too.

The rest of Harry’s Christmas presents were far more satisfactory. Hagrid had sent him a large tin of treacle fudge, which Harry decided to soften by the fire before eating; Ron had given him a book called
Flying with the Cannons
, a book of interesting facts about his favourite Quidditch team; and Hermione had bought him a luxury eagle-feather quill. Harry opened the last present to find a new, hand-knitted jumper from Mrs Weasley, and a large plum cake. He put up her card with a fresh surge of guilt, thinking about Mr Weasley’s car, which hadn’t been seen since its crash with the Whomping Willow, and the bout of rule-breaking he and Ron were planning next.

*

No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts.