The weather was gloomy, so the dark castle became particularly grim.
Evan, Hermione, and Harry raced to the Gryffindor common rooms. They were disturbed by what just happened.
"I can't believe it; Malfoy is the one trying to kill us!" said Harry while looking pale.
"I don't think so, why would Malfoy want to kill us?"
Evan shook his head while looking at Harry's expression and said, "Well even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be stupid enough to send a house elf to do so."
"Then did Dobby…."
"I don't think he was lying; he must have overheard his master talking about opening the Chamber of Secrets, and came to try to save you, Harry."
"Yeah save me, not letting me get on the train, breaking my arm, and controlling over eighty chairs and tables to attack us." sighed Harry, "If he keeps trying to save me like this, I might end up dead."
"Don't blame him too much, house elves are creatures of immense servility. They can't violate their masters' orders, they can't reveal their masters' secrets, and if he does, he has to bear server punishments."
"Servile?!" grunted Hermione, "It's unbelievable that in this day and age, that there is still slavery in our country!"
"I don't care about that." said Harry, "I wished he would have told us who opened the Chamber of Secrets, or what lies within it. How can no one notice a monster walking around the school!"
"Perhaps it can make itself invisible."
Hermione thought for a moment and said, "Or maybe it can disguise itself into another object."
"Anyway, this thing has something to do with Malfoy," said Evan quickly, "Lucius Malfoy is plotting something, but...."
His words couldn't go on, when the three turned a corner, they saw a horrible scene.
Evan felt his heart sink, and his face became pale.
A Ravenclaw girl was laying on the floor, she was cold and stiff, she had a terrified look on her face, her eyes were gazing at the ceiling. It was not just her, there was another figure beside her, Evan had never seen such a strange spectacle before.
It was Moaning Myrtle, she was no longer milky white and transparent, dark smoke filled her, she was lying six inches above the ground, with the same expression as the Ravenclaw girl.
"Haven't we seen this Ravenclaw girl before? What was her name?"
Harry gasped while looking around the hallway, he saw spiders quickly fleeing.
"Penelope Clearwater, she is a Ravenclaw student," replied Hermione with a sad tone.
"Another attack, we should find someone to come and help."
Before they could react, they heard a door slam open, it was Peeves.
"Ah, it is you three!"
Peeves bounced around while giggling, "What are you doing, why are you sneaking around?"
He did a somersault but suddenly stopped when he noticed what was lying on the ground.
He quickly straightened up, took a deep breath, before Evan was able to stop him, he screamed at the top of his lungs. ���You did it again! Even a ghost isn't spared! Run for your lives!"
The whole castle instantly became lively, people quickly flocked to where they were.
In the next few minutes, the scene was incredibly chaotic, Penelope was endangered of being squished. People stood in Moaning Myrtle's body while squeezing Harry, Evan, and Hermione to the wall.
In the next moment, the teachers came and regained order.
Professor McGonagall hurriedly ran to the scene and cast a spell that produced a tremendous bang which made everyone quiet down. She ordered everyone to go back to their houses' common room.
Evan heard Justin whisper that Harry was the successor as he left.
This remark was apparently heard by Peeves, Peeves suddenly opened his mouth producing a gigantic smile.
When the teachers were looking at Penelope and Moaning Myrtle, Peeves sang, "Oh, Potter, oh, Potter, you're a pain, you ruin lives, and think it's a hoot."
"Stop messing around, Peeves!" roared Professor McGonagall, Peeves stuck out his tongue and hurriedly ran away.
Professor Flitwick along with several other students carried Penelope to the school infirmary. They didn't know what do with Moaning Myrtle.
Finally, Professor McGonagall transfigured a big fan and handed it to Ron, who had just arrived, and told him to fan Moaning Myrtle up the stairs. Ron looked at Evan and the others with worried expression before leaving.
"Come with me, Mason, Potter, and Granger." Professor McGonagall led them to a gigantic statue of a Griffin.
McGonagall spoke the words "Sherbet Lemon."
As soon as her words finished the statue jumped aside, revealing a slowly ascending staircase.
Evan and the other two followed Professor McGonagall and heard a bang, the entrance closed once again. The staircase went up higher and higher, making Evan feel a little dizzy. Evan then saw a double oak door, on it was a brass knocker in the shape of a Griffin.
Evan knew where this was, it was the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
He has been secretly looking at it for four weeks. He could not help but be amazed at its beauty. Harry and Hermione were worried about their impending fate.
It was too coincidental that the three were there for the first attack and the second one as well. If they said, they had nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets, no one would believe them.
Dumbledore's office is very interesting, it is a very spacious, beautiful round room and a few funny little sounds filled it. The spindly tables had a lot of silvery devices.
The walls were filled with portraits of the former headmasters, who were softly snoring in their respective frames. On a shelf sat a ragged, wrinkled sorting hat.
On a perch behind the door sat an ill-looking bird with red and gold feathers.
This should be the Phoenix Fawkes, Evan looked at it curiously.
After Observing it carefully, Dumbledore came out.
"Albus, it was Miss Clearwater and Moaning Myrtle...." said Professor McGonagall eagerly.
"I know Minerva!" replied Dumbledore calmly, "The Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again."
"But Albus, you must know...Who is it?"
"The question is not who." said Dumbledore, "The question is, how...…"
Evan's was slightly startled; Dumbledore must have noticed something.
Then he saw the look on Professor McGonagall's face and knew like himself, Harry, and Hermione, no one understood what Dumbledore meant.
Afterward, the expected inquiry was not born, Dumbledore only asked them about the Phoenix Fawkes, and let them go.
Evan turned around, wondering whether if he just imagined it or not but it felt like Dumbledore's eyes were on himself.
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Very few people are as wise as Dumbledore. News of Penelope and moaning Myrtle spread throughout the entire school.
Rumours spread, making everyone suspicious.
Even the ghosts were a little scared, they wondered what kind of power can actually hurt a ghost.
During this time, multiple students bought things to protect themselves. Evan saw Nevil Longbottom buy a gigantic onion, an amethyst, and a rotting salamander tail.
As a result, the other boys in Gryffindor told him he was not in danger since he was pureblood so he shouldn't be attacked.
"They started with Filch." said Nevil with a face full of fear, "As you know, I was almost a squib."
Colin approved of Nevil's words. The amethyst that Nevil bought is said to protect one's self from harm.
Percy was acting rather abnormal too.
His arm was already fixed, but when he saw the petrified Penelope he was horrified. He wasn't interested in trying to maintain order in the common room, he just sat in front of the fire alone every night, not knowing what to think.
Ginny seemed to be worse off than Percy, she has been distracted lately.
Several times she found Evan while looking rather pale, she seemed to want to say something but, in the end, she did not say anything.
It was suspicious after Evan kept asking what was wrong, she gave in. She told him that she was having nightmares every night, she dreamed of Harry, Evan, and another Weasley family member being killed by the monster in the chamber, which made her very worried.
Evan comforted her for a while, he was unsure if Ginny became like this because she noticed she had been controlled by Tom Riddle.
He was told that Ron, Ginny, and the twins left the hospital soon after he left, but they went their separate way, so he did not know if she went to the bathroom of the third floor during that time or not.
The situation is so bad that the first years are now always grouped together, it was like they were afraid if they acted alone, they would be attacked. No one except Colin wanted to be with Evan. No matter where he went someone was always pointing at him.
He received the same treatment as Harry and Hermione. People kept their distance from the three as if they were serial killers.
The prime suspect is still Harry, the young wizards even gave a reason. It was that Moaning Myrtle offended Harry at Nick's Deathday Party and she ran back to the bathroom after talking to Harry. The girls have seen Harry try to break into the bathroom, they suspect that he was caught by Penelope so he decided to kill her.
In the wake of this rumour, the Hogwarts' Magic newspaper sold a record low, the latest issue only sold 300 issues.
No one wanted to buy a suspected criminals' newspaper until he was proven innocent. All of the young wizard's energy was focused on the Chamber of Secrets, they were no longer interested in the Quidditch games.
The only benefit of the attack was that Ron was willing to talk to Evan again.
It may be because Evan's spell struck Percy and made him think Evan was on his side or because the Chamber of Secrets was once again opened and made him realize the importance of these things and think now isn't the time to act like this.
They huddled in a corner in the Common room for several nights in a row and whispered.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione agreed that they had missed the chance to get a key clue. Moaning Myrtle may have known something but she is now out of the picture.
Evan knew where and how to open the Chamber of Secrets, but he was not ready for the battle and he also didn't know where Tom Riddle was hiding.
"There must be something wrong with our thinking."
Ron felt a little puzzled, "Who do we know that thinks Muggles are scum?"
"Malfoy?"
"Of course, it's him! Look at his ugly face," said Rong, "And the house elf that attacked you was theirs."
"Yes, Dobby did mention the Chamber and the plot. But we can't be sure Malfoy is the heir to Slytherin," said Hermione
"Come on, Hermione!" said Harry, "Look at the family, everyone is in Slytherin. He might as well be the descendant of Slytherin since his father is evil enough.
"They might have held the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" said Ron, "It was probably passed from generation to generation, father to son."
"It's possible…." said Hermione cautiously, "Evan, what do you think?"
"Malfoy should know something if he is the heir."
Evan had to find Tom's diary and pay attention to Ginny, asking Draco Malfoy himself is a good way.
Lucius probably didn't disclose his plans to Draco but there might be some clues like if they were in contact with any other student from Hogwarts other than the Weasleys, as long as there is one clue, it will narrow down his search.
"Evan is so predictable but the question is how can we get Malfoy to tell the truth," said Harry pessimistically.
"I have a solution!" said Hermione slowly, she hurriedly looked to make sure no one was eavesdropping and lowered her voice, "Of course, it's not easy, it's very dangerous, we are going to violate at least fifty school rules."
"Don't be so secretive if you want to tell us," said Ron impatiently.
"We need to enter Slytherin's common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without letting him recognize us," said Hermione calmly.
"That's impossible." laughed Harry and Ron
"No, it is possible!" said Evan as he narrowed his eyes, "As long as we make Polyjuice potion."
"What is that?" asked Harry and Ron in unison.
"Polyjuice potion!" said Hermione while being a little surprised, "How did you know, Evan?"
"I have read about it in books that this kind of potion can turn you into another person"
"Yes, we can turn into Slytherin students. Malfoy will not know it is us and might tell us everything." said Hermione, "He is probably in the Slytherin common room bragging, it is a pity we can't hear him."
"This potion seems a little peculiar."
Ron said while frowning, "What if we become Slytherin students and never change back?"
"The effect will vanish after a while." said Hermione a little impatiently, "Snape said the potion is written in a book called Moste Potente Potions in the library's restricted section. But it shouldn't be a problem, Professor Lockhart should be willing to sign a note to let us get it."
"That guy will sign anything," whispered Ron.
"The problem now is the raw materials; we should be able to obtain those from Snape's personal collection."
"Hermione, that is too risky, Snape is not Lockhart, we can't easily get it from him." hesitated Harry.
"But...."
"This isn't a problem; we can use the profits from The Hogwarts' Magic newspaper to buy the herbs. And we can use the third floors girl's bathroom to concoct the potion."
"Oh, no!" said Ron feebly while Harry's face looked grave.
"It is the safest place since Filch is no longer guarding it. After the two attacks, no one is willing to approach the corridor."
In addition to making potions, Evan was prepared to risk it.
He will be right by the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets, no matter who Tom is controlling, as long as they want to enter the Chamber of Secrets, they must go through him.
Evan also wants to see; will it be the same as the original plot and will he find Tom's Diary there.