𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                                        CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
                ─── INVISIBLE VOICES & THE WRITING ON THE WALL

Soon enough, they arrived at the hut, Hermione quickly knocked on his front door as Harry and Charlus helped keep Ron standing, and after a few seconds Hagrid opened it, smiling widely without noticing anything was wrong, "Bin wonderin' when yeh lot was goin' ter come and see meh. How can I 'elp yeh?"

As soon as the half-giant caught a glimpse of Ron's ill state, he ushered the four of them in the house quickly. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed by Ron's slug problem, which Harry hastily explained as Charlus lowered Ron into a chair.

"Better out than in," the half giant said cheerfully, plunking a large copper basin in front of him. "Get 'em all up, Ron."

 "I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop," Hermione said anxiously, watching Ron bend over the basin. "That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand . . ."

"So tell me," Hagrid began, jerking his head at Ron. "Who was he tryin' ter curse?" "Malfoy. He called Hermione something —Well, I don't know exactly what it means."  Harry explained to him quietly. "It was bad." Alistair said, "Malfoy called her a 'Mudblood,' Hagrid —"

Ron dived out of sight again as a fresh wave of slugs made their appearance. Hagrid looked outraged. "He did not!" he growled at Hermione. "He did," The bushy haired girl said quietly. She was clearly upset and trying her hardest to fight back tears. "What's a Mudblood?" Harry asked, slightly confused.

"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of," Ron gasped and came back up from the basin. "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born, you know, non magic parents." Alistair began to explain to them. "There are some wizards — like Malfoy's family — who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure blood."

Ron gave a small burp, and a single slug fell into his outstretched hand. He threw it into the basin as Alistair grimaced and continued, "I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville - he's Pureblood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up. "

"It's codswallop! A load o' rubbish! What type of wizard yeh 're don' mean nothin'! Don't yeh listen to that Slytherin, Hermione! They haven't invented a spell yeh can' do." Hagrid said proudly, making Hermione go a brilliant shade of magenta.

"It's a disgusting thing to call someone," Ron remarked as he wiped his sweaty brow with a shaking hand. "Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."

He retched and ducked out of sight again.

"Well, I don' blame yeh for tryin' ter curse him, Ron," Hagrid said loudly over the thirds of more slugs hitting the basin. "Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy would've come March in' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least yer not in trouble."

"The same can't be said for Charlus. " Harry said as he looked at his brother worriedly. Hagrid raised an eyebrow and turned to the oldest Potter. "Why? What did you do?" he asked him.

"I gave him a bloody nose. He deserved that." Charlus told him angry. At this, Hermione turned to the green-eyed boy, "Yes, but Charlus, you could get in trouble because of it. You should have just let him be."

"Let him be?" the boy countered, " Hermione, did you really just expect me to just  stand there and watch some pompous, over use of hair gel jerk insult you in front of me? I did what I thought was right. And I would do it all over again for you in a heartbeat if I had to. "

Hermione was about to protest, but Charlus interrupted her as he walked over to her and looked her in the eye, "No, I don't feel the slightest guilt over it. For Christ sake, you're my best friend, Hermione, and  that's what you always gonna be!  I will always be there for you, no matter what happens.  So, what I did for you was worth it."

Even if it hadn't been Charlus' intention, the bushy-haired girl could feel herself blushing furiously. Then she gave the green eyed boy a big hug. Charlus melted into her embrace and held her tightly as she cried in his chest.

 Alistair and Harry exchanged knowing grins as they both unconsciously agreed to what was happening between the boy and girl in front of them. Instead of watching too much, however, they simply turned their attention back to Ron.

"Come here." Hagrid said while he smiled at the two. This caused the two to let go of each other so Hermione could walk towards the giant while Charlus stayed by her side.

Hagrid placed her hand in his and covered her hand with his other one. "Don't you think on it, Hermione. Don't you think on it for one minute. Hey?" he said with a small smile before he gave her a gently pat on the hand.

The bushy haired girl wiped her tears away before she let out a genuine smile.

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It was almost lunchtime, and as Charlus hadn't eaten anything, he was keen to go back to school to eat. They said good bye to Hagrid and walked back up to the castle, Ron hiccoughing occasionally, but only bringing up two very small slugs.

They had barely set foot in the cool entrance hall when a voice rang out, "There you are, Potters—Weasley—Black." Professor McGonagall was walking toward them, looking stern. "You three will do your detentions this evening."

"What are we doing, Professor?" Ron asked, nervously suppressing a burp. "You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr. Filch," Professor McGonagall said and turned towards  him. "And no magic, Weasley — elbow grease."

The red-haired boy gulped immediately. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was loathed by every student in the school.

"Black, you will be cleaning cauldrons with Professor Snape." Professor McGonagall said and Alistair let out a  groan when he realized he was going to have detention with the worst professor ever.

"And you two, Potters, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail," Professor McGonagall said. "Oh god — Professor, can't I go and help out in the trophy room, too?Or be with Alistair in the potions classroom?" Charlus asked her desperately. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Certainly not," Professor McGonagall said and raised her eyebrows, "Professor Lockhart requested the two of you particularly. Eight o'clock sharp, the four of you."

Charlus, Harry,Alistair and Ron slouched into the Great Hall in states of deepest gloom, Hermione behind them, wearing a well-you-did-break-school-rules sort of expression.

"Filch'll have me there all night," Ron said heavily. "No magic! There must be about hundred cups in that room. I'm no good at Muggle cleaning."

"I'd swap any time," Charlus replied hollowly. "We've had loads of practice with the Dursleys. Answering Lockhart's fan mail... he'll be a nightmare..."

"At least you three don't have Snape. I will have to be in the same room with him in my free time." Alistair spoke up, "Alone if I may add."

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Saturday afternoon seemed to melt away, and in what seemed like no time, it was five minutes to eight and Charlus and Harry were making their way to the second floor corridor. They stopped at the Gilderoy's office and knocked after sighing to one another.

"Come in,boys." Gilderoy's voice said and they entered the room reluctantly. As they entered, the author ushered them in quickly. He handed them a stack of letters before they each sat down on the opposite side of the desk, as far away from him as possible.

Charlus wanted to finish writing as quickly as possible so he could get out of there. Gilderoy, on the other hand, had other plans and tried to start a conversation with the two boys, "Boys, boys, boys.... Can you possibly imagine for a better way to serve detention than by helping me to answer my fan mail?"

"Not really." Harry said with a forced smile.  "I would rather spend my free time cleaning cauldrons with Professor Snape." Charlus muttered.

Lockhart seemed to ignore him as he continued speaking, "Fame is a fickle friend, boys. Celebrity is as celebrity does. Remember that."

The blonde-haired teacher grinned and took another letter, while the black-haired boy shook his head and the light brown-haired boy rolled his eyes before they focused on the stack of letters in front them.

After a while, Charlus heard something quite apart from the spitting of the dying candles and Lockhart's prattle about his fans. He was sure Harry had heard it too, since they had both looked at each other suddenly.

It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice cold venom, "Come...come...come to me...come to me..."

Charlus gave a huge jump and a large lilac blot appeared on the letter. "What?" he asked loudly. "I know!" Lockhart said as he lifted his head up from the letter and looked at the twins. "Six solid months at the top of the bestseller list! Broke all records!"

"No," Harry said frantically. "That voice!" "Sorry." Lockhart said and looked at both boys in confusion "What voice?" "That—that voice that said—didn't you hear it?" Harry and Charlus asked at the same time.

Lockhart was looking at the twins in high astonishment. "What are you talking about, Charlus, Harry? I think you're getting a bit.. drowsy." he said before he looked at the clock on his desk. "And great Scott, no wonder. Look at the time. We've been here nearly four hours. Spooky how the time flies when one is having fun."

"Spooky." Harry replied nervously while Charlus didn't say anything. He was straining his ears to hear the voice again, but there was no sound now except for Lockhart telling them they mustn't expect a treat like this every time they got detention. Feeling dazed, Harry and Charlus left the room.

"Harry, what the hell was that voice?" Charlus asked his brother as they walked down one of the halls. "I don't know. It almost sounded--" Harry began to say, but was cut off by something.

 The two of them stopped and listened intently. "Blood...I smell blood..." the dark voice whispered again. "Let me rip you...let me kill you."

The two boys looked at the walls and noticed that the voice seemed to be coming from there. They moved to it and carefully placed their ears against the cold walls to hear the voice better, "Kill."

The twins followed the voice all the way down  while they still leaned against the walls. "Kill...kill...kill..." it continued to hiss, but grew louder the further they followed it.

 As they turned a corner, they crashed into someone, but luckily they didn't fall backwards. They looked up to see that it was Alistair, who looked scared. "Charlus! Harry!" Hermione exclaimed in relief as she came up behind with Ron.

"Did you hear it?" Harry asked them frantically. "Hear what?" Ron asked in disbelief as he looked round. "The voice." the twins quickly  replied in unsion.  "Voice?" Hermione repeated anxiously. "What voice? Seriously, first Alistair at the dinner and now you both. What is going on?"

"We heard it first in lockhart's office, and then again just-" Charlus began to tell them, but cut himself off as he looked around.  "It's time. "  he, Harry and Alistair heard the hissing voice again, while the other two looked at them worriedly.

"It's moving. I think it's going to kill." The three boys said in alarm before they began to sprint down the corridor. "Kill? What's going to kill who?" Ron shouted in a panic.

 Hermione shrugged her shoulders in response before she ran after Charlus, Harry and Alistair. Ron followed closely behind them,without a clue of what was going on. "Charlus, Harry, Alistair , wait! Not so fast!"

The three turned into a wide corridor and began to walk along it when the two caught up with them. Suddenly, the three boys  came to a halt at the end of the corridor and looked down, which caused the other two to do the same.

When the five of them looked down at the water, they noticed a trail of spiders crawling in a line up the wall and through a hole in one of the windows. "Strange..." Alistair said wonderingly and frowned at the odd sight. "I've never seen spiders act like that."  "I don't like spiders." Ron muttered in a scared voice, to which Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes.

At that moment, the five of them saw what looked like writing in the reflection.  "What's that?" Ron inquired. They all looked up quickly and Charlus' mouth fell agape. 

On the wall in front of them were giant words written in what looked like blood. Hermione read the words out loud, "'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir...beware.' It's written in blood."

Hermione was startled by the blood on the wall, but she managed to get closer to Charlus and took his hand just in case, to which he tangled his fingers with hers without hesitation.

Harry moved his gaze slightly to the left. His gaze landed on something he didn't want to see. "Oh no. " he began to say while he walked forwards ,"Look, that's Filch's cat."

There she was. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from one of the torches. The poor cat was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

At that moment, the corridors filled with students returning from dinner in the Great Hall. Murmurs  went through the crowd as everyone watched the scene and eyed the three Gryffindors and two Slytherins suspiciously. 

"Enemies of the heir... beware!" Draco  read  as he pushed to the front of the crowd,much to Adrian's attempt at holding him back. He glanced at the hanging, immobile cat before he turned to Hermione with a cruel expression,"You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

"Draco, play nice!" Adrian scolded as usual and nudged his brother in the ribs. Charlus broke away from  the girl's hand and took a step forwards. He was about to lunge at the blonde asshole again, but Hermione grabbed his hand again and pulled him back, "Don't!"

The boy reluctantly complied to the girl's wishes as Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd, "What's going on here? Make way! Make way!"

Argus stopped in front of Harry. "Potter! What are you—" he began to say, but trailed off as he noticed his cat in its unusual state. His eyes instantly widened in both terror and anger,"Mrs. Norris? Y-You murdered my cat!"

"No!" Harry said pleadingly and shook his head. "I'll kill ya!" Mr. Filch said as he grabbed ahold of Harry's robes, "I WILL KILL YOU!"  "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Charlus shouted without thinking twice.

Filch turned round, visibly startled by the boy's scream. Before he could direct his fit of rage towards Charlus as well, a calming voice cut through the air, "Argus!"

Harry sighed in relief when Dumbledore arrived on scene, followed by McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Lockhart. "Argus I-" He trailed off as he saw the bloody message on the wall and Mrs. Norris hanging from the torch. Then he turned to the crowd,  "Everyone. . . will proceed to their dormitories immediately."

The crowd began to move quickly. Harry, Hermione, Charlus, Alistair and Ron even tried to disperse before they heard Dumbledore speak again, pointing directly at them, "Everyone except you five."

The five of them stopped walking and turned back around to face their Professors. The Headmaster spoke once more, this time to Mr. Filch to comfort him, "She's not dead, Argus. She's been petrified."

"Ah, thought so. So unlucky I wasn't there." Lockhart spoke up and Charlus couldn't help but roll his eyes at him. "I knew exactly the counter curse that could've spared her."

The professors gave him a look,clearly doubting that he was telling the truth, and Charlus smirked in amusement. Dumbledore continued speaking, "But how she's been petrified... I cannot say."

"Ask him!" Argus said angrily as he pointed at Harry, "It's him that's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall." "It's not true, sir, I swear!" Harry said loudly and Charlus nodded in agreement, "Professor, I swear he's telling the truth! He never touched Mrs. Norris!" "Rubbish!" Filch spat at him.

"If I might, headmaster," Snape, who had been oddly silent, said suddenly, "Perhaps, Potter, his brother and friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time..." 

 The three Gryffindors and the two Slytherins looked at one another in disbelief. Why was Snape defending them? 

"However," he continued while he walked over to the quintet, "The circumstances are suspicious. I for one, don't recall seeing the Potters at dinner." "That was my doing, Severus," Lockhart explained, and Snape looked at him, "You see, Charlus and Harry were helping me answer my fan mail."

Hermione added on, "That's why Ron,Alistair and I went looking for them, Professor. We had just found them when they said..." The girl trailed off. Snape took note of this, so he pressed on, "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"When they said they weren't hungry," Alistair quickly lied and looked at Harry and Charlus, who nodded in agreement to make it seem even more believable. "We were heading back to the common rooms when we found Mrs. Norris."

The two of them nodded again. Snape raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but turned around to look at Dumbledore for an answer, "Innocent until proven guilty, Severus."

"My cat has been petrified! " Argus shouted, "I wish to see some punishment!" 

"We will be able to cure her, Argus. As I understand it, Madame Sprout has a very healthy growth of mandrake. When matured, a potion will be made, which will revive Mrs. Norris. And in the meantime, I strongly recommend caution to all."  Dumbledore said patiently before he turned to the three young Gryffindors and two young Slytherins, "You five may go."

They didn't hesitate.

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

Here is once again a very short chapter. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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Thank you for reading this far.

Until next time, much love to you all!