Chapter 105

For a few days, the school could talk of little else but 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 attacker might come back. Harry had seen him scrubbing the message on the wall with Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but to no effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like "breathing loudly" and "looking happy."

Even though Harry, Hermione, and Ron told their friends what happened, there was nothing they could do about this and instead, they just tried to live their lives as best as they could, considering that a lot of students were pointing and whispering behind the Gryffindor trio's backs at every given moment. And so instead of risking going into even more trouble with the professors, Harry almost begged Thomas and the others to not look into this and just let Dumbledore deal with whatever or whoever petrified the cat.

However, when Thomas asked Harry if he heard or saw something, Harry decided to lie to him. Maybe he didn't want his friend to think that he was crazy from hearing voices that no one else could hear, or maybe he was scared that Thomas will do something dangerous and after the last meeting with the Dark Lord, Harry didn't want to put his friends in danger again.

Trying his best not to meddle in this without any concrete leads, Thomas just shook his head while looking at Ginny Weasley, who even a few days later seemed still very disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate and according to her second-year brother, she was a great cat lover.

"But you haven't really got to know Mrs. Norris," Ron told her bracingly. "Honestly, we're much better off without her."

Hearing her older brother's words, Ginny's lip trembled and before she could say anything, Ron assured her that nothing bad will happen. "Stuff like this doesn't often happen at Hogwarts. They'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time. I just hope he's got time to Petrify Filch before he's expelled. Wait, wait guys, I'm only joking …"

Thomas, Adam, Michael, and James were ready to berate Ron for his insensitive remark, but he quickly raised his hands up in the air in defeat.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to upset anyone," he said hastily. "It's just that Mrs. Norris always gave me the creeps, you know? She's always spying on us and reporting us to Filch. She's not exactly a friendly cat."

After saying that, Ron looked at Ginny with an apologetic expression. "But I'm sure she'll be fine, Ginny. Madam Pomfrey can fix anything, right? And Dumbledore will find out who did this and make them pay. You'll see."

He tried to sound reassuring, but his voice was shaky and his face was pale. He knew that something was very wrong at Hogwarts, and he had a feeling that it had something to do with the voice Harry said he had heard.

Unbeknownst to him, Thomas saw that brief change in his expression, which made the blonde boy wonder if Harry lied to him about something since there was no way Ron would look like this if there wasn't something else that Harry didn't mention to anyone.

'Maybe I'm too paranoic ever since Bahamut lost his "eyes" in the school and around it, but still, I'm more than sure that Harry knew more about the incident than he's willing to share.'

Taking another glance at Ron, Thomas saw the ginger boy quickly turning his head towards Harry almost as if he was begging his friend for help. If that wasn't bad already, the fact that Hermione spends most of her free time doing nothing nowadays, kind of made Thomas worried about her wellbeing. The first day after that incident, Harry and Ron tried to get a reaction from her, but nothing worked and that's when the two idiots came to Thomas asking for help.

Sadly, no matter what he did, nothing worked, not even hugging her, and while that did in the end earn Thoams a reaction from her, it wasn't the reaction he wanted to get, after all, who would want to make a girl cry? Not knowing what to do to make Hermione feel better, Thomas went and asked his two other female friends, Daphne and Tracey, for help. And so the next day, during lunch, they approached Hermione's table and invited her to join them for a study session in the library. At first, she didn't respond, but after Daphne pestered her for a few minutes, Hermione reluctantly agreed.

Once inside the library, the three girls sit together at one of the more remote tables. Pulling out some of her books, Hermione starts reading through them for a minute or so until she felt, a gaze on her. Hermione looked up from her books and saw Daphne and Tracey staring at her with curiosity.

"Is something wrong?"

Daphne shook her head," We were just wondering what are you reading?"

"You were so engrossed in the books that it seemed you were in a searching for some kind of long-lost thing."

Hermione hesitated for a moment, pondering if she should tell them what she was doing, fearing that Daphne and Tracey might tell Thomas what she was looking for. Something that she didn't want to happen, after all, she would rather die than put her c…friend, yes friend in danger again. "Oh, um... I'm just trying to find out more about the Chamber of Secrets."

Hearing that, Daphne raised her eyebrows," The Chamber of Secrets? Why would you want to know about that?"

"Well, you know, it's a mystery that's been unsolved for centuries. And above all of those rumors about the chamber, a few days ago when Mrs. Norris was petrified, Harry, Ron, and I were the first ones to find it alongside the message on the wall. "

For a few seconds, none of the girls said anything, until Tracey mustered her courage. "You think they're related to the Chamber of Secrets?"

"That's what it said on the wall, but…I don't know. However, one thing is for sure, someone must have opened it, otherwise, these things would have not happened."

Not liking what she heard, Daphne decided to ask Hermione something that was bothering her ever since she and Tracey invited her to study. "Tell me something Hermione. If you were just trying to find out more about this chamber, then why did you ignore your friends, especially Thomas in Merlin's Beard!"

In the end, what started as a question turned into a shout, taking Hermione aback momentarily, mostly because she didn't expect such a question. Hermione felt guilty when Daphne shouted at her. She knew that she had been avoiding her friends, especially Thomas, ever since the Chamber of Secrets was mentioned, but she had a good reason for that, one that unfortunately, she didn't know how to explain to them. She barely managed to muster her words before speaking in a low voice. "I'm sorry, Daphne. I'm sorry, Tracey. I didn't mean to ignore you or Thomas. It's just that... I'm scared."

"Scared? Scared of what?" Daphne asked her, without giving Hermione any time to think of a lie.

"Scared of... losing Thomas. Losing any of my friends. Scared of what might happen if I involve you in this." Hermione answered, tears threatening to fall out of her eyes.

"Involve us in what? Hermione, what are you talking about?" Tracey asked.

"The Chamber of Secrets. The heir of Slytherin. All of it. The last time we involved Thomas and his friends, he almost died! I don't want to see that happening again!"

Daphne and Tracey looked at Hermione in shock, not expecting the relatively quiet girl to almost burst out in tears. Thought that did make both of them remember some rumor about how Thomas somehow got injured at the end of the last year and was sent somewhere to recover. Judging by how Hermione looked right now, mentioning that, maybe those rumors were indeed true and Thomas has been injured quite badly.

Not wanting to see her new friend crying, Daphne quickly starts reassuring her. "Hermione, listen to me. What happened last year was not your fault. And while I don't know the whole story, I'm pretty sure that Thoams is not blaming you or those two idiot friends of yours."

"Yeah, Hermione. Thomas is not the type of person who would hold a grudge or resent you for something that I believe was not even your fault. He cares about you, Hermione."

Tracey wanted to continue saying that she wasn't the only girl he seemed to care about, but she decided not to say that, fearing that it would do more harm than good.

"But he could have died, Tracey. He could have died because we let him, James, Adam, and Michael join us when we went to search for the stone. And it could happen again. The Chamber of Secrets seems to be more dangerous than what happened last year. And… if what Harry overheard is true… then someone might be after Thomas's life…"

"Why do you say that? Why would anyone be after Thomas?"

"I don't know Daphne! I'm scared of asking him what happened over the summer to make the headmaster so willing to protect him."

While the three girls were talking, the boy in question was walking alone down one of the corridors that lead to the kitchen. After finishing his quidditch practice, Thomas found himself hungry, and so like any sane person, he decided to visit the house elves and ask them for some food.

As he walked, he felt his entire body entering a state of high alert. He sensed something was wrong, something was out of place. He stopped and looked around, but saw nothing unusual. He reached for his chest, where his sacred gear, Bahamut, was embedded.

"Hey, Bahamut, do you feel anything?"

[No, Thomas, I don't feel anything around the castle. Why do you ask?] Bahamut replied in his mind.

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling. Like something is watching me, or waiting for me."

[That's strange. Maybe you're just tired from your practice. Or maybe you're hungry.]

"Maybe. But I still think we should be careful. The last thing I want is to fight for my life in the castle once again."

After that, Thomas decided to push forward, but more cautiously this time. He kept his hand close to his wand and dagger just in case as he scanned the walls and the ceiling for any signs of danger.

When was about to turn a corner, he heard a sweet familiar voice calling his name.

"Thomas... Thomas... Come here, my dear...I miss you so much…"

As soon as he heard the voice, his heartbeat raised to the roof. That woman is here, in the castle and she knew the language of snakes, Parseltongue. The same language he used to talk with Mars. If she was here does that mean…

"Bahamut, I don't want to worry you, but she's here. She came for me again."

[Are you sure? I can't sense anything.]

"I heard her voice. She was talking in Parseltongue."

[Do you want to go into balance breaker?]

"There's no point doing that yet. Besides I'd rather not end up in a weakened state if she's actually just watching me."

Grabbing his magical dagger in one arm and his wand in the other, Thomas chooses to advance slowly toward the source of the voice. Thought, one thing he noticed was that there were no students, house elves, or even teachers present in the corridor, nor did he could feel their presence anywhere near him.

[We might be inside of a barrier. That would explain why I couldn't feel anything, they had cut Hogwarts from the outside world in such a way that it isn't noticeable.]

"Should I even bother going forward?"

[You are too weak to break such a barrier and I'm unable to help you unless you want to destroy the whole castle and everyone inside of it.]

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