-Myths And Legends-
*Roses POV*
I stared into the unknown, sitting in my common room the night after the attack.
Was I to tell someone that I was hearing a scary voice or not? No, hearing voices wasn't a good sign
"Helllooooo, earth to Rose?"
I snapped out of my thoughts, it was Pansy. She rolled her eyes at me,"I was literally calling your name for five minutes. You were in a deep thought that you forgot to hear. What was it?"
I shook my head,"Nothing."
She just shrugged,"Come on, lets go to bed."
For a few days, all the school could talk of little but the attack on Mrs. Norris.
Filch kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing on the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought he attacker might come back.
I had seen Filch scrubbing the message on the wall with 'Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover', but no effect, the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. Sometimes I had wondered if Filch was a squib as there was always a spell to clean things.
When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of crime, he was either sulking in the corridors or lunging out at unspecting students and trying to put them in detention for random things like 'breathing too loud' and/or 'looking too happy.'
Hermione didn't spend much time with me, only to do Homework, and that to for about 15 minutes.
I sat with Hermione in the library, me doing my thrre-foot long composition on 'The medieval Assembly of European Wizards'
She sighed and looked me,"All the copies of 'Hogwarts a History' have been taken and I can't remember anything. I have a copy but I couldn't pack it with all of Lockhart's books."
I shrugged,"I don't blame you."
She left me. By now I was used to this. I put my homework into my bag, and stood up, walking to History Magic, Reaching there the moment the bell rang.
I sat down, not bothering to take out any book. Professor Binns made everything too boring to pay attention. Lucky for me, Tracey would do all the writing for me. It was a wonderful of how she was able to keep awake.
All of a sudden, Hermione put her hand up.
Professor Binns, glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed.
"Miss - er -?"
"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets,"Hermione said in a clear voice.
People started to pay attention. Professor Binns just blinked at her.
"My subject is History of Magic," he said in his dry, wheezy voice,"I deal with facts, Miss Grands, not Myths and Legends."
He cleared his throat with a small noise like chop snapping and continued. I slouched down over again.
He stuttered to halt. Hermione's hand was waiting on the air again.
"Miss Grant?"
"Please sir, don't legends always have a basis in facts?"
Professor Binns looked at her in such amazement. I was sure that nobody would have interupted him. I wouldn't blame those people. Binns had the worst voice that would make anyone fall asleep in seconds.
"Well," he said slowly,"yes, one could argue with that, suppose."
He peered at Hermione as though he had never seen a human properly before,"However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale ...."
The whole class was now hanging on Professor Binns' words. He looked dimly at us. I could tell that he was completely thrown by such an unusual interest.
"Just get on with it," I murmered under my breath.
"Oh, very well,"he said slowly,"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 unsure - by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school houses are named after them.
Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when Magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.
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.
By then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift beagn 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 famailies. He disliked taking students of Muggle Parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while,there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."
Dun dun dun.
"Reliable historical sources tell us this much, but these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of secrets."
Finally, he got to the point.
"The story goes that Slytherin has built a Chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing of.
Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one would be able to 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."
There was silence as finished telling he story, but it wasnt the usual, sleepy silence that filled Professor Binns' classes. There was an unease in the air as everyone continued to watch him.Professor Binns looked faintly annoyed.
"The whole thing is nonsense, of course,"he said,"Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."
I just stared at him in disbelief. I then raised my hand.
"Miss. Ray"
"Rose, sir, its only a four letter name. Anyway, you are telling me that you made a whole scene, being hesitant and all, not telling us just because its fake?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Never mind," I muttered. What I said didn't come out how I intended it to be. It has sounded better in my head.
"Sir - what exactly do you mean by 'the horror within' the chamber?" Hermione asked.
"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the heir of Slytherin alone can control," said Professor Bonne in his dry, reedy voice.
"I tell you, the thing down not exist. There is no Chamber of Secrets and no monster."
I scoffed. He was a straight up liar, I was the one that heard it, well.. Also Harry and Roseline, but they don't count.
"But sir," said a boy,"if the Chamber can only be opened by a Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?"
I smirked, he did have a good point. And it was a good backfire.
"Nonsense O'Flaherty-"
"Finnigan"
"-if a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing-"
A whole debate started to happen. Wow. No one cared for the fact that he was getting people's surnames wrong.
"That will do," he said sharply,"it is a myth! It does not exist! There is not shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built a so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believe able, verifiable facts!"
I was half tempted to tell him that I could here things, but his voice made me sleepy and too lazy to do anything.