A Ravenclaw, a Slytherin and a Mystery

The bell rang, signalling that the last lesson of the day was over. The students packed up their books and Professor McGonagall collected the remaining matches. Everyone was looking forward to the Halloween feast and the party in the common room afterwards. Nicole felt a bit sad as she left the classroom; today would be the last time she had classes with the first-years. Professor Flitwick had told her that most of the teachers thought she was ready for second year. She had grown to like her younger classmates and she would miss Herbology with Eliza.

The Great Hall looked splendid. Clouds of live bats flew over the tables and Hagrid had supplied giant pumpkins with carved faces that were lit by flickering candles. Nicole secretly carried Nero under her robes. He always managed to sneak out of the Ravenclaw tower and would have shown up anyway. She spotted Eliza over at the Slytherin table. After the fight with Draco, almost all of the Slytherin students acted like she didn't exist. It didn't seem to bother her, or she managed to hide her feelings very well. When they were working in the library she sat with Nicole and other Ravenclaw girls, who didn't seem to mind her.

They had finished the meal, but on occasions like this the students lingered for a while. Eliza came over to the Ravenclaw table and was soon engaged in conversation with Nicole and Morag.

Morag looked around and, when she thought it was safe, bent down to put her plate under the table. She had saved some ice cream for Nero. Nicole and Eliza were talking about next week's Quidditch match.

"Um, Nicole," Morag interrupted them, "I think your cat is gone."

"Oh no!" groaned Nicole.

The cats, especially Nero, had been nothing but trouble lately. They seemed to enjoy picking fights with the other cats in the castle and last week Nicole had gotten the shock of her life when Nero tried to attack a tabby, who turned out to be Professor McGonagall in her cat form.

"Maybe he's chasing Mrs. Norris again. I'd better go search, before Filch catches him," Nicole sighed.

Eliza and Morag got up too, but Nicole held them back. "I'll go alone. It would attract too much attention if we all leave."

Nicole snuck out of the Great Hall and started to look around. No sign of Nero. She decided to search the first floor and climbed up the marble staircase. She was about to start searching again, when she heard footsteps from above. Someone was coming down the stairs. Fearing it could be Filch, Nicole searched for a place to hide and squeezed herself behind a suit of armour. She relaxed when she saw that it was a just a student, Ginny Weasley.

"Ginny?"

The girl gave no answer; she walked past Nicole like she wasn't there. Ginny was pale and her eyes were wide open. The blank stare made Nicole feel uncomfortable. Ginny disappeared down a corridor and from the distance Nicole could hear the noise from the Great Hall getting louder. The feast was over and students soon filled the corridor. Morag and Eliza pushed their way through the crowd towards her.

"Did you find him?" Eliza asked.

"No, I think he'll be back when he's getting bored," Nicole answered.

The mass of students came to an abrupt stop when they rounded a corner. Looking in between the heads of some taller students, the girls could see Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the middle of the corridor, but they were not the reason for the sudden and complete silence. Illuminated by the torches, the words

"THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE" were written on the wall. Underneath, the stiff and lifeless body of Mrs. Norris was dangling from a torch bracket.

Nicole shuddered. She had never liked Mrs. Norris, but seeing that someone had used the dead cat for a display made her sick. Nicole was pushed roughly aside when someone moved to the front of the crowd. It was Draco Malfoy and he broke the silence.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

Another person pressed through the mob of people. It was Argus Filch. When he saw his cat, he nearly broke down, but his behaviour changed from desperate to murderous the minute he noticed Harry Potter. His high-pitched accusations were stopped when Professor Dumbledore and several teachers entered the scene. The headmaster removed Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket and asked Filch and the three Gryffindor students to follow him. The crowd parted for them and they left, followed by McGonagall and Snape. The DADA teacher, Professor Lockhart, had offered his office and hurried after them.

Professor Sprout announced in a loud voice that all students should return to their common rooms. Reluctantly the crowd left. Everyone wanted to see what would happen next. When their ways parted Eliza tried to say something, but she got dragged away by a Slytherin prefect.

No one was in the mood for a party anymore. The common room was filled with small groups, discussing the events in hushed tones.

"D...do you .... really think ... think Potter and his friends killed Mrs. N...Norris?" Mandy asked.

"Don't be ridiculous. Harry would never do something like that."

Mandy reddened and Padma softened her tone. "A lot of strange things seem to happen when he's around, but I think that they were just unlucky enough to find her. What I really want to know is: What is this Chamber of Secrets?"

"I think I read about it somewhere ... ," Morag said thoughtfully and went up to their dormitory. Minutes later she returned with her copy of Hogwarts - A History and started to flip through the pages.

"I know this is probably a stupid question, but what is a Mudblood?" Nicole asked.

Lisa Turpin explained. "Mudblood is a very rude word used for muggle-born witches or wizards. Some of the purebloods think they have tainted blood."

Nicole nodded. That explains why the Slytherins don't like that I'm friends with Eliza she thought.

"I got it!" Morag exclaimed triumphantly. They gathered around her as she started to read:

"One of the most interesting legends surrounding Salazar Slytherin is that of the Chamber of Secrets. Unnoticed by the other Founders, he built a secret chamber inside the castle which could be opened only by himself. Slytherin wished that only students from pure-blooded families should be allowed to attend Hogwarts, and, when the other school founders disagreed, he left. The legend says he left something evil and powerful behind in his secret chamber and one day his true heir will come to open the chamber and use its contents to rid the school of unworthy students."

"So Slytherin left behind some kind of secret weapon?" Lisa asked.

Morag closed the book. "The writing says that the chamber has been opened and the legend claims that it's only possible for a descendant of Salazar Slytherin to open it. Slytherin's heir is in Hogwarts."

"But who could it be?" Padma wondered.

"I bet he's in Slytherin, it would be logical," Lisa said. The other girls nodded, it would make sense.

Nicole frowned. "What I don't understand: if Slytherin's heir was supposed to rid the school of unworthy students, why did he attack the caretaker's cat?"

"Well, there are rumours. Nobody has ever seen Filch use magic. He always does his work by hand and the students who have detention with him are forbidden from using it too. Some older students think he's a squib," Padma explained.

"Maybe t...t...this whole th...thing is just someone's sick idea of a j...joke?" Mandy suggested.

Nicole drew Nero closer. She didn't know what scared her more: Slytherin's heir on the loose or a student taking his anger over Filch out on a cat.

Speculations over the attack continued over the next few days. Word had gotten out that Mrs. Norris wasn't dead, just petrified. Nicole didn't have much time to muse over the events as she was too worried about how she would handle the second year classes she was now participating in. She was afraid of the first potions lesson, but Morag worked hard with her to prepare and Snape had almost looked disappointed when she could answer his questions correctly.

Nicole had been looking forward to the first DADA lesson, but it turned out to be as boring as the first-year classes. Lockhart spent the whole lesson reading from one of his books and gave stupid homework assignments like: "Write an essay about why Gilderoy Lockhart thinks red is the appropriate colour to wear when fighting a vampire."

The writing stayed on the wall, bright as new, despite Filch's attempts to remove it. A lot of students were itching to get a closer look, but no one dared to go near it since the caretaker was always lurking around the site. Filch was more irritable than ever and Terry Boot had almost gotten detention for "Looking happy".

On Saturday the Quidditch season started with the first game: Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Many of the Ravenclaw students were supporting the Gryffindor team in this match.

Morag had explained the rules to Nicole and she had borrowed and read Lisa's copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. Padma thought the Gryffindors had a good chance; her sister had told her that they had been training in all kind of weather since the start of the term.

The game was fierce and it looked like the training wasn't helping the Gryffindor team much. The Slytherins were all equipped with the new Nimbus 2001 and they were so fast, the spectators could barely see them. The Gryffindor seeker, Harry Potter, was the sole target of one of the bludgers, and the beaters had a hard time protecting him. It had started to rain and, after the Slytherins were leading with 60 points, the Gryffindor captain called for a time out.

"There must be something wrong," Morag observed, "I've never seen a bludger go after one player the whole time."

The players rose in the air again, the game continued. The Gryffindor captain must have told the beaters to stay away from Harry, because he was now alone, struggling to avoid the bludger following him. Nicole thought Harry was a great flyer when she saw him perform all sorts of dives and loops. The crowd screamed when the bludger hit Harry in the side and knocked him nearly of the broom. He stayed up and managed to evade the bludger when it came after him again.

"Galloping Gargoyles, he's trying to hit Malfoy!" Morag screamed when she saw Harry speeding towards the Slytherin seeker. But instead of colliding with Draco, Harry stretched his arm out.

Padma was hopping up and down excitedly. "He's got the snitch!"

There was a collective gasp when Harry started to fall and hit the ground. They couldn't see anything, because Harry was surrounded by his team-mates and friends.

"Do you think he's terribly hurt?" Nicole asked in a small voice. She hadn't expected that a Quidditch match among students could be this violent.

"Don't worry. There's nothing Madam Pomfrey can't fix," Padma said cheerily. To her it seemed to be a normal thing for people to fall 20 feet to the ground. "Oh my, what is Lockhart doing?"

The DADA teacher could be seen next to Harry and he had his wand out. The next thing they saw was Harry being lead away by his friends, one of his arms hanging limply at his side.

By Sunday morning students were still talking about Harry's spectacular catch of the snitch in the Ravenclaw common room. Nicole sat by the fire, leafing through The Complete Guide to Protective Spells from the library, looking for a way to keep Nero safe when he was wandering around the school on his own, when Padma burst into the room with an expression of panic on her face.

"There has been another attack!" she panted, grabbing the back of a chair for support. All conversations stopped. "One of the Gryffindor first years, Colin Creevey, was brought to the hospital wing last night. He got petrified, just like Mrs. Norris."

Mandy paled. "D...does t...t...that mean the...the h...heir o...of Slytherin c...can get i...i...inside t...the d...dormitories?" she barely got out, completely abandoning her theory about a prank. One of her eyes started to twitch nervously.

"He wasn't attacked in the dormitory; they found him outside the Gryffindor tower on the stairs. I wonder what he was doing out at night, all on his own?"

"Was he....?" Lisa asked.

"Yes, he's muggle-born."

Nicole got up; she had to find Eliza. Padma grabbed her arm. "You don't want to go out there alone."

"It's broad daylight and there are people everywhere. So far, all attacks happened after dark and with no one around."

"Still, be careful, you know...."

"Mudblood, stay away from dark, deserted passages!" Nicole tried to joke, but it didn't sound convincing.

She found Eliza in the library, working on an essay for Lockhart's class. The library was almost deserted; only a few students occupied the tables and Nicole noticed that some of them looked around nervously before disappearing in the maze of high bookshelves, afraid to be out of sight. There hadn't been many students in the corridors either and those not holed up in their common rooms stayed in groups.

"You're all right?" Eliza asked.

"Not really, everyone is scared; Padma even tried to make me stay inside the common room."

"Understandable, you're a member of an endangered species." Nicole smiled weakly. Eliza apologised. "Sorry, that was lame."

"But true."

Madame Pince fixed a threatening glare on them. She had emphasised on more than one occasion that the library was for studying, not talking.

"We'd better leave." Eliza gathered her books.

They went outside. The once comforting walls of Hogwarts seemed alien and dangerous and they were both relieved to escape them for a while.

"So, what's the Slytherin verdict on the attacks?" Nicole carefully asked.

Eliza snorted. "Why did you think I sought refugee in the library? Draco was prancing around, telling everyone he was sure the muggle-born students would leave soon, too scared to wait until the end of the year. Not that anyone would have missed me ...." she added in a bitter voice.

Nicole swallowed. Eliza hardly ever talked about her life in Slytherin, but she knew her friend wasn't happy there.

"Is it that bad?"

"To be honest: I think the hat made a mistake. There is no way I'll ever fit in there. I'm wondering if it's possible to switch to another house."

"Hey, we would welcome you in Ravenclaw with open arms. But I have to admit, I felt a bit misplaced there at first."

"Why?"

"You know what they say about Ravenclaw, house of the smart bookworm and I never have been one of those."

"But you've been working so hard over the last couple of months ...."

"For the first time in my life. Back in my old school I was basically asleep during lessons; sometimes I didn't even go to school and I never really bothered with homework. I was furious with my dad when he insisted that I should go to Hogwarts, but now I think he was right."

In silence they walked down to the Quidditch pitch, each lost in her own thoughts. When they sat down on one of the benches Nicole spoke again. "Maybe it's my fault. Maybe if we pretend not to be friends anymore they'll change their attitude. Just punch me in the face and go to Malfoy and tell him he was right about me and apologize ...."

"Apologise? The stupid git insulted my family!"

"Lisa thinks that someone in Slytherin is behind these attacks."

Eliza frowned. "Why?"

Nicole explained what Morag had found in Hogwarts - A History.

"Do you think Malfoy could have something to do with this?"

"No," Eliza said, rather convinced. "Not that I don't think he's capable of something like that, but, remember, he was at the Halloween feast the whole time. He wouldn't have had time to petrify Mrs Norris and write the warning."

"And what if someone was helping him?"

"That would be Crabbe and Goyle, or maybe Pansy, but they were all at the feast as well."

Nicole started to chew her lower lip. There was something in the back of her mind, something important, but she couldn't remember it.

The whole school knew about Colin by Monday and the formerly nervous mood among the students had turned into a near-panic. No students, especially not the first years, were seen walking alone and after sun down Hogwarts' corridors were deserted. The common rooms were buzzing with rumours and speculations. Eliza kept her eyes open, but the Slytherin students seemed to be clueless like the rest of the school. Every copy of Hogwarts - A History had been taken out of the library. All books on protective spells and charms were gone as well, and many students started to wear all sorts of talismans and amulets.

When the Heads of House started to take the names of those students who wanted to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays only a very few students put their names down.

Nicole was looking forward to going home over Christmas, but Eliza was torn between her desire to see what would happen in Hogwarts and the prospect of seeing her adoptive parents again. Finally, she decided to go home, since the chance of something happening was slim in a nearly empty school. Everyone was eager to leave, even after word got out that the mandrakes Professor Sprout was growing would revive the victims.

The Ravenclaw girls were on their way to breakfast when they noticed a crowd assembled in front of the notice-board. Morag dived into the mass of students and returned minutes later with exiting news.

"A Dueling club! They're not telling who will be teaching, but the first meeting is tonight in the Great Hall!"

"Do you think they started it because of the attacks?" Padma asked, nervously fingering her jade pendant.

"I don't think so," Lisa replied, "My aunt once told me that there had been a Dueling club when she was at Hogwarts. I'll go. Could be useful to learn a bit about dueling these days."

Padma and Morag agreed. Lisa turned to Nicole.

"Are you going?"

"I think not; I still have trouble to keep up with all of you in class; I wouldn't stand a chance."

Morag disagreed.

"I think you keep up well and it's not like anyone would expect us to know about duelling. They started the club to teach us."

But Nicole had made her decision, and when the others left for the Great Hall that evening, she stayed in the common room and finished her transfiguration homework.

Nicole had gone to bed early that evening and was already asleep when they returned. She was surprised by the subdued mood in the room when she woke up the next morning.

"What happened?" she asked, seeing the gloomy faces of her roommates. "Did someone get turned into a toad and they couldn't turn him back?"

Morag didn't smile.

"Harry Potter is a Parselmouth." Seeing the blank expression on Nicole's face she explained. "He can talk to snakes."

"And that means?"

"Speak...speaking P...P...Parselmouth is the sign of...of a dark wizard," Mandy said, cleaning her glasses with the hem of her night-shirt before putting them on.

"And Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth," Morag added.

"Don't tell me they now think Harry is Slytherin's heir?"

They got interrupted by Padma, who returned from the showers.

"You had better hurry up or we'll be late for breakfast."

At breakfast they could hear the wind howl around the castle and the enchanted ceiling was white from thick snow. Nicole glanced over to the Gryffindor table. They seemed to be unusually quiet. She didn't get a chance to ask what had really happened at the Dueling club and none of the versions circulating sounded believable.

Nicole saw Harry and his friends in the corridors a few times and she noticed that many students tried hard to avoid him.

On her way to Transfiguration she met Eliza in front of the classroom and stopped her.

"So what was going on with Potter and the snake? So far I've heard he conjured up a snake and it attacked Lockhart, Snape sent a snake after Harry and Lockhart conjured a snake and Harry made it attack someone from Hufflepuff."

Eliza grinned. "It was a bit of everything. Snape had decided to pair Potter and Malfoy for practice and Malfoy conjured up a snake. Lockhart tried to banish it, but only made it fly through the air, which didn't improve the snake's mood. It turned against Justin Finch-Fletchley and then Harry ... well, spoke with the snake."

"What did he say?"

"Don't ask me, I just heard some weird hissing noise and ...." Eliza stopped when a shadow fell on them.

"Miss Greenwood, if I'm not mistaken the Slytherin first years have History of Magic next, so I suggest you better hurry up," Professor McGonagall said in a stern voice. "And Miss Williams, I prefer it when my students have taken their seats at the beginning of the lesson."

Eliza dashed towards Professor Binns's classroom with flying robes and Nicole quickly took her seat.

Professor McGonagall handed out small pieces of fur they were supposed to turn into stuffed toy animals. The room was silent expect for the scratching of their quills as they wrote down the instructions, then they got to work. There was a small commotion when Terry Boot had pointed his wand at Stephen Cornfoot while he was mumbling the spell and Stephen turned into a badger. Professor McGonagall rushed over to help the unlucky student and started a stern lecture on security.

"Mr. Boot what have I told you during my first lesson? NEVER point your wand at another person in class! I know that a lot of students say a spell a few times to memorise it and when you play around with your wand while...."

Her words were drowned by a loud scream that echoed through the corridor outside.

"Attack! Attack! Another attack! No mortal or ghost is safe! Run for your lives! Attack!"

Everyone was frozen for a moment, but Professor McGonagall quickly regained her composure and stormed out of the room, the students following her without hesitation. Stephen's hair was still striped black and white.

When they arrived at the scene Terry narrowly avoided running into the teacher when she abruptly stopped. Students rushed in from every direction to see what was going on and several teachers shouted at the top of their lungs to get them quiet. Amidst the chaos stood Harry Potter, pinned to the wall by some students. He was pale as a ghost and didn't try to move. Professor McGonagall set off a loud bang with her wand and when the students finally went silent she ordered them to return to their classes immediately.

As the students started to clear off, Nicole could finally see the reason for the commotion. A boy was lying on the floor, rigid like Mrs. Norris, his eyes wide open, starring at the ceiling. And next to him, floating above the ground an even more unsettling sight: The Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. He was no longer transparent and shimmering, but had turned black and wore the same expression of shock on his frozen face like the boy.

Numbly Nicole followed her classmates back to the transfiguration classroom, sometimes bumping into people still heading into the opposite direction without really noticing.

To everyone's surprise, Harry Potter appeared at supper like nothing had happened. Enraged voices could be heard from the Hufflepuff table, but they quickly subsided after a stern glance from Professor McGonagall.

"I can't believe they let him stay!" Lisa exclaimed. "He was there, twice, right at the crime scene and he's still here!"

Penelope Clearwater turned around and looked at her disapprovingly.

"Harry Potter is here because he is innocent. Don't tell me you believe all this rubbish about the heir of Slytherin? Like Dumbledore would let him stay if there was a shadow of a doubt!"

Lisa blushed and returned her attention to her plate.

A wave of relief washed over the castle when the last day of term had finally arrived. The students were busy packing their things and everywhere in the dormitory one risked tripping over half-packed trunks. Eliza regretted her decision to go home since she found out something interesting.

"I spotted Potter and his friends sneaking around one of the girl's bathrooms rather often lately...."

The Hogwarts Express had just pulled out of Hogsmeade and the girls had a compartment all to themselves. Morag had asked them to stay with the others, but their compartment was already overcrowded since Padma's sister, Parvati, had brought her friend Lavender.

"Maybe they have been waiting for Hermione?" Nicole said only mildly interested as she tried to wrestle Nero back in his basket since he wouldn't leave the sleeping Claudius alone.

"But that's the bathroom were the first attack happened! It's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom; no sane girl goes in there if it isn't a real emergency. And boys are not supposed to go into a girl's bathroom ...."

"Eliza, I think you're getting paranoid...."

"I'm not! I really should have stayed; I bet they're up to something."

"And I think that the whole thing will be over when we return next term. Whatever goes around the school and attacks students, the teachers will catch it. And the mandrakes are growing, so the victims will be out of the hospital wing soon."

"I think you are far too optimistic."

"Hey, I can hope! By the way, would you mind not mentioning anything about those attacks while you are staying at my house?" Eliza's parents had agreed that Eliza could spend the last days of the Christmas holidays with Nicole.

"Why?"

Nicole nervously chewed on her lower lip.

"I know, it's stupid, but I think my dad would not let me return to Hogwarts if he knew what was going on there."

"And that coming from the girl who spent her first week at Hogwarts trying to get expelled!" Eliza said laughing.

"Well, it's Hogwarts or St Angela's Boarding School for Girls...."

Eliza grinned. "My lips are sealed. No mentioning of petrified students, promise," she said and leaned back in her seat, opening the book she had brought for the trip: Sherlock Holmes - The Sign of the Four.

The holidays were soon over and Hogwarts was invaded by students again. Eliza was relieved when she found out that she didn't miss anything during her absence. Hermione Granger had to stay in the hospital wing for a few weeks, but nobody managed to find out what was wrong with her. Since the teachers had made it clear that it wasn't another attack the rumours soon died down. Life at Hogwarts finally seemed to return to its usual peace.

However, normal school life was disturbed on February the 14th by Professor Lockhart's Valentine's Day festivities. Oddly dressed dwarfs were swarming all over the castle and Nicole and Eliza decided to hide in the library as soon as afternoon classes were over. It looked like other students had the same idea; the library was crowded.

Nicole returned from the shelves carrying a huge and dusty book about sleeping potions, when her eyes fell on a lonely figure at one of the tables - Ginny Weasley. Nicole hadn't really seen her since the Sorting and was shocked when she saw how the girl had changed. On her first evening at school Ginny had appeared to be a happy girl, glowing with excitement. Now she looked pale and depressed with dark circles under her eyes.

"What's wrong with Ginny?" Nicole asked in a whisper when she returned to her seat next to Eliza.

Eliza looked up from her charms homework. "The Weasley girl? I think she's just upset because Malfoy and his little gang teased her about the valentine she sent Potter."

"I don't think that's all; look at her; she looks like she hasn't slept in ages."

"Well, after potions I heard some Gryffindor girls complain to each other. They said she was sleepwalking and waking them up."

At the mention of sleepwalking a memory stirred in the back of Nicole's mind. She remembered Ginny passing her in the corridor with a blank stare, oblivious to her surroundings.

"Eliza, remember the Halloween Feast when...."

Madame Pince looked pointedly in her direction and Nicole quickly lowered her voice.

"I left the feast to look for Nero and I meet Ginny in the corridor. She was coming down the stairs and was staring straight ahead; her eyes looked ... empty. It was creepy."

Eliza got excited. "That's it! She was there! We have been looking for someone who was not at the feast and that's Ginny!"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you think Ginny Weasley is Slytherin's heir. I mean just look at her, she doesn't look like the evil villain sneaking around and petrifying people."

"I'm not saying she is Slytherin's heir. Maybe someone forced her to help and that's the thing bothering her ...." Eliza trailed off and then suddenly got up and disappeared between the shelves. She returned with a small leather-bound book. On its cover the title Locator Spells was barley visible in fainted gold lettering.

"Some of the girls in Slytherin were always hiding my books until I found this and put spells on everything. Now they can hide my stuff wherever they want, I always find it in seconds," Eliza explained.

Nicole could sense where this was heading. "You can't put a locator spell on her!"

"Why not? It's not only for things; there's a spell for tracking people in there too."

"Eliza, we can't do that. She is a person, not some misplaced book! If someone finds out that we put a spell on another student to follow her around, we will be in big trouble!"

"I had never thought you would be such a coward," Eliza said, getting angry.

"I'm not a coward! It's just wrong. Look, nothing happened since the start of term...."

"Nothing happened YET...."

"No. It's wrong and it's dangerous. We should leave it to the teachers, or do you plan to catch Slytherin's heir on your own?"

Nicole was getting angry too. Why was Eliza being this stubborn? She had enough and started to gather her books.

Eliza tried to reason. "Look, if we find anything useful we can still report it...."

Nicole got up. "Do what you want, but I have had enough. You are getting really obsessed about this whole thing and I don't want to have anything to do with it."

She left the library without looking back.

"You all right?" Penelope Clearwater looked up from her book when Nicole stormed into the common room and threw her bag on the table.

Nicole dropped in a chair with a sigh.

"I just had a stupid fight with Eliza."

"The little Slytherin? And I was starting to think you were twins, separated at birth...."

Nicole smiled weakly.

"It's just...." She paused. Should she really tell Penelope? She was a prefect after all, but then she continued. Penelope had helped her a lot during her first weeks at Hogwarts; Nicole trusted her.

"Eliza thinks she can find out who is behind the attacks and I tried to talk her out of it."

Penelope shook her head. "The last thing we need now is students trying to play Sherlock Holmes...."

"That's what I told her!"

"Some of the prefects had suggested guarding the corridors at night, but McGonagall was strictly against it. She said it was too dangerous. And honestly, I think it's over. The mandrakes will be soon ready for cutting and the teachers will take care of matters, trust me."

Nicole nodded.

Penelope got serious. "Listen, stay out of this and keep an eye on your friend. If I catch you two sneaking around and investigating on your own, I'll have to report you."

"Promise," Nicole said.