Gold needle

Barnaby arrived at the castle when night had already fallen. As for Tonks, after stiffly answering her boyfriend, she remembered that her mother had asked her for a favor and used her cyan staff to leave, taking advantage of the fact that they were still outside the range of Hogwarts' restrictions.

Not that they would work on this magic, but Barnaby could only nod grudgingly as he said goodbye.

"Sanshi, you've been laughing non-stop for twenty minutes," Barnaby said as he entered the castle and headed to the dungeons. "Can you tell me what's so funny?"

"No, haha, it's nothing, hahaha, really!" Sanshi brushed it off.

She simply found Tonks' innocent reaction adorable.

Did she think Barnaby was indirectly proposing to her?

From what she'd seen so far, Tonks could act with a determined and mischievous front, but when things seemed to get serious and Barnaby didn't back off but instead got closer, she panicked a little.

"Where are you going?" Sanshi tried to change the subject to divert Barnaby's attention. "Your father must be waiting for you at the cabin by now."

"Nick should be finishing his party to commemorate the five hundred years of his death," Barnaby explained as he calmly descended the stairs. "It's better to clean up the rotten food served before it 'comes to life' due to the residual magic of the ghosts. Last time, a worm cake started devouring some of the owls in the owlery and caused a bit of a ruckus in Uncle Snape's supply room."

Barnaby still had a bunch of owl feathers in different colors and sizes from that incident.

"Aren't those some of your friends?" Sanshi asked.

Barnaby looked around and realized that Ron and Hermione were following a somewhat excited Harry.

"Did they come from Nick's party?"

After thinking about it for a bit, he concluded that it was quite likely they had been invited by the ghost, despite it not being a party meant for the living to enjoy.

But why were they running like that?

"Do you think they ate something from the party?" Sanshi suggested.

"If they had eaten something, Ron would be the first to fall and would already be on the ground writhing in immense stomach pain," Barnaby denied as he changed his course and decided to follow them. "Harry seems to be looking for something. It's better to keep an eye on them so they don't get into trouble. Again."

Following the sound of hurried footsteps, Barnaby caught up to the trio of students at the intersection of one of the hallways, and what he saw made him frown.

Mrs. Norris was hanging by her tail from an extinguished torch in a rigid state, and next to her on the wall was a message written in blood.

It was the blood of his chickens!

Things didn't improve when many students and professors appeared almost synchronously to witness the scene; some accidentally stepped in a puddle of water.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware," read a Slytherin boy aloud. "You're next, Mudblood!"

With such a commotion, how could Filch not appear?

"Out of my way, you little troublemakers," Filch pushed his way through the students, and the first thing he saw was Harry. "Potter, what are you...?"

His words lost steam when he noticed Mrs. Norris hanging immobile.

"You... you killed Mrs. Norris," his voice began to tremble with anger and grief. "I'll kill you, I'll kill you!"

Dumbledore was about to intervene, having seen how the scene was unfolding, but someone beat him to it.

"Oh, it's a shame I didn't get here in time," Lockhart commented as he looked around dramatically. "I know the perfect counter-curse that would have saved her."

The male professors and students gave him a Saitama look, while the female students nodded as if it were obvious.

"Mr. Filch!" Barnaby stepped forward before things escalated too quickly. "Mrs. Norris isn't dead."

"What?!" Filch's eyes widened, and his shoulders shook. "But she doesn't move or breathe!"

If there was anyone who knew about creatures in the castle, it was Barnaby, and Filch knew him well enough to trust that he wouldn't joke about something related to Mrs. Norris.

"She's petrified," Barnaby examined the hanging cat carefully. "It's curable," he declared.

Snape and Pomona nodded silently. Indeed, a mandrake extract could cure petrification. However, Barnaby's next actions left them surprised.

A Tonberry walked up beside Barnaby, momentarily put away its knife, and rummaged through its pockets before pulling out a small object with a tune of: "Na-na-naa-naaa."

"Thank you," Barnaby said, taking the object from the green creature.

The students with the sharpest eyes managed to see that it was... a golden needle?

"Fortunately, they still had one," Barnaby commented as he carefully unhooked Mrs. Norris and laid her on the ground before proceeding to use the golden needle.

A crunchy sound sent shivers down everyone's spines as the petrification was lifted, and Mrs. Norris came back to life, stretching as only a cat would to loosen her stiff muscles.

"Oh, thank you, Barnaby," Filch picked up Mrs. Norris and examined her from top to bottom to make sure she was completely fine. "I don't know what I would've done if something happened to my cat."

Although the recovery of Mrs. Norris was a happy event, Dumbledore ordered everyone to return to their respective houses immediately. Everyone except the trio and Barnaby.

"I was returning from Hogsmeade and heading to the dungeons to clean the chamber Nick Nearly Headless used tonight to celebrate his five hundredth death anniversary," Barnaby explained with a clear conscience. "Then I saw the three of them running through the hallways and decided to follow them, in case they got into trouble again."

The professors nodded unconsciously; that was very much in line with Barnaby's behavior. Harry and company, on the other hand, were a bit annoyed because it essentially said they were not to be trusted.

Dumbledore also nodded and looked at the golden trio attentively.

"Now, can you explain your version of the events?"