Slytherin
For the next few days the main topic discussion among students was the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept it fresh in everyone’s minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked as though he thought the culprit would return. Sirius supposed he had a right to hang around there for a while. He kept scrubbing the message on the wall with various magical cleaning products. None worked, and the message remained. Sirius might’ve felt bad for him if he didn’t keep trying to put students in detention for things like, “breathing loudly” and “looking happy.”
Ginny Weasley seemed very disturbed by the attack. According to Ron, she was a big cat lover. Ron tried to comfort her, but he seemed to do more harm than good.
Hermione started reading more, to the point where she barely did anything else. The only time any of the boys got more than a token response from her was when Harry asked Sirius to steal her book. She was less than pleased about that, actually snapping at both dog and owner. They decided not to try it again.
The following Wednesday they found out what she was up to. Harry got held back in Potions, where Snape made him scrub tubeworms off the desks. Sirius did what he could to help, but it wasn’t much seeing as he didn’t have hands. After a hurried lunch, they went upstairs to meet Ron and Draco. One the way they ran into a Hufflepuff boy named Justin Finch-Fletchley. The second the other boy caught sight of him he turned and ran off in the opposite direction.
Harry frowned, “I didn’t think I smelled that bad, and I’m definitely not that scary.” Sirius snorted. “No, you’re not that scary either.”
The Animagus looked up at his godson with a small whine. Harry laughed, “Okay, you can be that scary. But you’re not right now.”
They found Ron and Draco at the back of the library. Draco was getting visibly frustrated as he tried to help Ron with his homework. Ron saw him first.
“Harry, I’m still eight inches short and Draco’s not helpful.” He complained.
“Well, next time I won’t bother, if that’s how you feel about it.” Draco sniffed.
Sirius started wagging his tail. It was good that they were getting along now. They still fought, but the fights didn’t have nearly as much bite to them as they used to.
Harry sat down with them, “Where’s Hermione? She usually helps you, doesn’t she?”
“She’s somewhere over there.” Ron gestured towards the shelves, “Looking for another book. I think she’s trying to read the whole library before Christmas.”
“She should be back soon, thankfully.” Draco sighed.
“Hey!”
“Something weird happened on our way in here.” Harry cut in. He knew the fights weren’t as bad, but he still did what he could to keep them from happening. Distraction was one of his favorite methods.
“What was it?” Draco asked.
Another success. Sirius’s jaws fell open in a doggy grin. He stopped when Harry shifted uncomfortably and told them about Justin running away from him.
“Maybe he’s scared of dogs?” Draco suggested.
Harry shook his head. “We have Herbology together. He’s never acted scared before.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Harry.” Ron said, he’d started making his writing as large as he thought could get away with. “I always thought he was a bit of an idiot anyway. All that junk about Lockhart being so great—”
Ron was cut off by Hermione emerging from between the bookshelves. She looked irritable.
“All the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out.” She sat between Ron and Harry. “And there’s a two-week waiting list. I wish I hadn’t left my copy at home, but I couldn’t fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books.”
“Why do you want it?” Harry asked.
“The same reason everyone else does, to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s just it, I can’t remember.” She bit her lip. “And I can’t find the story anywhere else. Draco, I don’t suppose…”
He shook his head. “I didn’t bring my copy either. I remember it had something to do with Salazar Slytherin, but not really any details. Sorry.”
She huffed.
“Hermione let me read your paper.” Ron said desperately.
“Wasn’t Draco helping you?”
“I tried, he’s hopeless.”
“Please, I just need two more inches.”
“You had ten days to finish it!”
“But—”
The bell rang. Hermione and Ron lead the way to class, still bickering. Draco didn’t bother trying to get their attention. He said a quick goodbye to Harry before rushing off to his own class.
Sirius yawned as he settled down beneath Harry’s desk. Nothing really interesting ever happened in this class, so Sirius usually spent it relaxing. Nothing to do, no triggers for Harry. This time however, something new happened. It was about half an hour into class when Hermione raised her hand. Professor Binns, the ghost teacher of History of Magic, looked amazed.
“Yes, Miss—er--?”
“Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets.” Hermione said.
The rest of the class stirred out of whatever day dream, or actual dream, they had been in the midst of.
“My subject is History of Magic, I deal with facts Miss Granger, not myths and legends.” He cleared his throat and continued. Only to stutter to halt again a moment later when Hermione’s hand started waving in the air again. “Miss Grant?”
“Please sir, don’t legends always have a basis in fact?”
Professor Binns was looking at her in amazement. Sirius gave a little huff of amusement. He didn’t think anyone had interrupted Binns before, alive or dead.
“Well, yes, one could argue that, I suppose.” He said slowly. He peered at Hermione, as thought this was the first time he’d really seen a student before. “However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale—”
Sirius snorted again. Did Binns really think he was going to discourage the students with that? Harry nudged him with his foot.
“Oh, very well.” Binns sighed. The whole class was hanging on his every word for perhaps the first time ever. “Let me see… the Chamber of Secrets…
“You all know of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago- the precise date is uncertain- by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them.”
Sirius yawned and tried to stay awake. He was sure things would get interesting. He shook his head a little and after, what he was pretty sure was only a couple sentences, he tuned back in to what Binns was saying.
“For a few years the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families.”
A thought came to Sirius at that. They didn’t know the exact date of when Hogwarts was founded, but they did know the time period. Weren’t there witch hunts going on in the Muggle world at that time? He, like most people probably, was looking back with this time in mind. But if there really were witch hunts going on, didn’t it make sense to be more selective about who you admitted to an all-magic school? Sirius frowned to himself (as much as he could as a dog anyway). Slytherin might have had a point then. He may not have presented it the best way, or perhaps he might’ve gone too far (Sirius wasn’t sure exactly how far Slytherin even had gone come to think of it), but there was some merit to his idea, if the time was considered.
Sirius was brought out of his thoughts as Binns continued speaking.
“The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none could open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.”
/But how much of that was distorted by time?/ Sirius wondered. /Unworthy and untrustworthy are two different things. Maybe he wanted the Chamber used for something else./
Hermione was asking another question. “Sir- what exactly do you mean by the ‘horror within’ the Chamber?”
“That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the heir of Slytherin alone can control.”
/Okay, that might be too far./ Sirius rested his head on his paws and stopped listening. He had a few things of his own to think over anyway.
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On the way back to the common room to drop off their bags Colin Creevy spotted them.
"Hiya, Harry!"
Harry gave a small wave in response.
"Harry- Harry- a boy in my class has been saying you're-" Colin was too small to stand much chance against the crowd of students headed to dinner. They heard him squeak, "See you Harry!" and he was gone.
Harry had gone a bit pale as his mind started spiraling with thoughts of what people could be saying about him. Sirius knew because sometimes Harry spoke to him while spiraling. Sirius nudged him with a paw and gave a small bark to alert Ron and Hermione. They turned back and took up positions on either side of him in an attempt to keep more of the crowd away.
"I'm sure it's nothing, Harry." Hermione said. "People just like talking sometimes. It doesn't really mean anything."
"Yeah!" Ron chimed in. "And if anyone starts doing more than talking you can tell us! We'll set 'em straight."
"Ron, that doesn't help."
"But it's true!"
Harry gave a weak laugh and started scratching Sirius's ears.
The crowd started to thin out, so Sirius picked up the pace a little. He was eager to get to the common room quickly so Harry could de-stress before dinner.