There was a long moment of exceedingly awkward silence, followed by a slow-growing susurrus of confusion, worry, and apprehension. Then things got more than a bit sticky. Filch arrived, forcibly elbowing his way through the gathering. He got one good look at Mrs. Norris and went pasty white, followed almost instantly by a disturbing color that defied immediate description, but was a bit red, a bit purple, a bit gray and a bit green.

"What have you done!" He half shrieked, half bellowed, racing towards them. Harry and co backed off fast, Harry scrambling for his wand in reflexive reaction, because Filch looked very much like he wanted to wring someone's neck, and Harry wasn't about to let it be him, or any of the others, for that matter. "You've killed Mrs. Norris! I'll see you expelled for this!" He reached as if to grab Harry, who happened to be closest, being at the front of the pack, and Harry scrambled another step backward, wand up and out and pointed at Filch, which at least succeeded in making the man cease reaching for him as if to strangle him, though the man was still literally frothing at the mouth.

"Don't touch me! I didn't do this." Harry said, surprised to find his voice calm, even if his heart was beating a frantic tattoo against his ribs.

"Yeah, back off." That from Ron, sounding highly pissed off. Harry risked a glance to either side and realized he wasn't the only one who had a wand out. Hermione and Ron both had theirs out and pointed. He could also just see the tip of Neville's wand (Neville himself was a bit too far back for Harry to see him) wobbling ever so slightly as he backed the others up.

Fortunately for all of their equilibrium, Severus and McGonagall showed up out of nowhere, the school body giving way before Severus' long-legged stalk like he was still the evil bat he'd been acting before Harry came into his life. When Harry got a good look at his face, he rather understood why no one wanted to get in his way. And McGonagall looked every bit as fierce. They made for a very intimidating duo.

"Mr. Filch." Severus all but purred, his voice oozing barely-restrained menace, black eyes snapping in barely-restrained anger. "I am quite sure you were not going to ... punish ... these children before you were even sure they committed any crime."

Even Harry gulped at the veiled threat in that oh-so-innocent statement, and he could tell that Ron and Hermione were both aware of just how much danger Filch was in at the moment. From the way Neville's wand was jittering around, he caught it too. Filch proved that he at least had some wit left and back pedaled away from the knot of Gryffindors.

"They killed my cat!" Filch fairly shrieked.

"And you know this because you saw them do it, I suppose?" This time, it was an irate McGonagall.

"Can't you see it yourselves! I caught them in the act!"

"You did not!" Harry yelped. "We were just walking down the corridor when we came across this!" Now was SO not the time to be discussing hearing voices. He'd tell Severus and McGonagall later, when it was just them, and not fully half the school.

Just about then, both the Headmaster and (unfortunately) Lockhart arrived. The Headmaster walked over and gently took Mrs. Norris down. "Now now, Mr. Filch. We shall see if we can discover what truly has happened. I am quite sure that none of these children are responsible for Mrs. Norris' fate."

Dumbledore's presence seemed to take more wind out of Filch's sails. Lockhart, nattering uselessly, offered them the use of his office (as if he had any say in what Dumbledore did and where, in his own school!), and they all did retire to his office, where Dumbledore examined Mrs. Norris quietly. Lockhart kept babbling on about knowing just what had killed her, and if he'd only been there he could have stopped it, until Severus finally snapped.

"Lockhart, if you do not silence yourself, I shall force an extra-strength batch of Draught of Living Death down your throat and rid us of your stupidity!" Severus snarled.

Lockhart shut up so fast that Harry was sure he heard a tooth crack when Lockhart snapped his mouth shut. Harry couldn't quite restrain the temptation to offer Severus a grin for the threat, or exchange highly amused looks with Ron, Hermione, and Neville. Lockhart sidled away from Severus, giving the man horrified, frightened looks.

"Mrs. Norris is not, fortunately, dead." Dumbledore finally said. "She has, instead, been petrified. Madame Pomphrey can put her to rights easily enough with a restorative draught, and as I understand it, we have a crop of mandrakes growing in the greenhouses."

Filch looked so relieved that his pet wasn't dead that Harry almost felt sorry for the man. Almost. "So who did it, then?" He demanded. "I want to see some punishment!"

"That, we do not know. This, however, is magic far beyond the abilities of a second year. An investigation shall be conducted, I assure you." Dumbledore said.

That, thankfully, seemed to wrap at least that bit of it up. Severus and McGonagall herded the group towards McGonagall's office, it being closer than Severus' dungeon office.

"All right, you four. What really happened?" Severus wanted to know as he settled a hip on McGonagall's desk, while she sat behind it. The four of them sat at the front most desks.

"I'm not really sure." Hermione was the first to speak up. "We were headed for Gryffindor tower, when all of a sudden Harry said something about hearing something and took off like he'd seen the Snitch. We followed him ... right to Mrs. Norris."

"Harry?" Severus asked, voice concerned.

"I ... " Harry said, then grimaced. "I heard a voice." He admitted.

Severus glanced at the other three, all of whom immediately began to shake their heads, denying having heard a thing. "And what did the voice say?" Severus wanted to know.

"Something about being hungry, and it being time to kill." Harry admitted.

Severus immediately pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something (probably something to the effect of 'idiotic, heroic Gryffindors'). McGonagall looked torn between exasperation, irritation, and concern. "And you thought it was a good idea to follow this voice, Harry?" Severus asked surprisingly calmly.

Harry had the wit to realize it'd been a bad idea. "I ... ummm ... sort of? At the time? I didn't want anyone to get hurt?" It all came out sounding like questions.

"And it did not occur to you that you might be hurt or killed, chasing this ... voice?" Severus wanted to know, though he already knew the answer. "We are going to have to work on that Gryffindor impulsivity, Harry, and instill in you a valuation for your own hide." He grumbled in irritation. "Now ... none of you actually saw anything?"

"No sir. We just chased after Harry, and found Mrs. Norris like that." Ron said. "Could someone have, I dunno ... cast some sort of spell? You know, to make Harry hear a voice?"

"It is not outside the realm of possibility, Mr. Weasley." Severus admitted. "Though it would be well beyond the capabilities of most of the students in the school. I have a feeling this is some part of ... whatever trouble Lucius has decided to stir up."

McGonagall, though, was grim-faced. "I know it is, Severus. The Chamber of Secrets ... " She shuddered slightly. "It has been opened before. A few years prior to my own student years, as I recall."

"Do you know ... " Severus started, only for McGonagall to shake her head.

"I have no idea. I got the definite impression that no one knew ... there were still students who'd been here when it opened when I attended, and it was spoken of, mostly in hushed whispers. So far as I know, no one ever discovered where the Chamber was, or what had been attacking the students."

"Dumbledore was the Transfiguration Professor at that time, was he not?" Severus asked. Minerva nodded. "We should speak to him, see if he discovered anything, either then or later." He refocused on the children. "In the meantime, if you hear the voice again, Harry, you are to report it immediately, and not, I repeat not, to follow it."

Harry ducked his head, more than slightly embarrassed. "Yessir. Sorry, I just ... wasn't thinking."

"Clearly." Severus said, though Harry was grateful he didn't sound truly angry. "We shall have to work on that later. Now, all of you, back to your dorm or classes, if you please."

HPHPHP

Once they were gone, Severus and Minerva shared a long, worried look before they headed for Dumbledore's office together.

"Severus, Minerva." Dumbledore greeted them. "I assume you've spoken to the children? What news can you give me?"

"Not much, I'm afraid, Headmaster." Severus said. "Only that Harry heard a voice commenting about killing, and followed it to where Mrs. Norris was. Minerva informs me that the Chamber was opened in the past."

The Headmaster sighed, looking old. "Indeed it was, my boy. A most unpleasant time, all around. I was, and remain, quite sure that a certain young man was guilty of the crime last time, but had no proof, and someone else was blamed. Unfortunately, for all our searching, neither Chamber nor beast was found, and considering that a student was killed, there was a most thorough investigation and search at the time."

"So you don't know what, or where?" Severus asked.

"Unfortunately, Severus, no." Dumbledore admitted. "I've often attempted to puzzle it out, but have failed thus far. If this is the trouble Lucius intended to bring us, we are, I fear, truly in a great deal of trouble. The school was very nearly closed, last time."

"Damnation." Severus grumped. "This is going to make matters difficult."

"Indeed it will, Severus. I shall do what I can to discover something of use. In the meantime, all we can do is watch, carefully. And hope no students are hurt or killed before we solve the problem. For good this time, I do hope."

Severus and Minerva nodded their agreement, and left. Severus grimaced as a thought occurred to him. Lupin was far more familiar with beasties than he was (well, they had comparable knowledge of the ones of use in potions, but that was not, by any stretch of the imagination, all the creatures in their world), and it would be best to consult with him. And perhaps Hagrid as well. Hagrid might be somewhat simple, and completely unable to keep a secret, but he did know his beasts. He headed for his office to write the notes.

HPHPHP

Up in Gryffindor Tower, the Marauders had taken over Harry's dorm room in order to talk things over and figure out what was going on for themselves. Unfortunately, they had even less information to work on than the adults, so they were getting nowhere fast.

"So we've got some sort of beast running around, or some idiot with a wand and a grudge, causing trouble, and Mrs. Norris is petrified." Fred summed up. "This is not good, mates."

"No, it isn't. And the whole voice thing ... kind of freaks me out." Harry admitted. "I mean, why did I hear it, but no one else?"

"That's the question for the day, mate." Ron said. "And a damn good'un."

Hermione had the look on her face that heralded an extended stay in the library. "I need to do some research. There has to be some way to figure out how it was done, whether spell or beast."

"Yeah, well, we're going with you. Sorry, Hermione, but until we know what's going on, I'm not real comfortable with any of us walking the halls alone." Harry said. He was grateful to realize that everyone else agreed wholeheartedly. "We can head there after dinner, see what we can find."

"Right. And in the meantime, we've got class in about ten minutes." Hermione said.

"Crap! We gotta get a move on. Not even Lockhart is dense enough to not realize if we're late, and I really don't want to give that man more of a reason to single me out than he's already got." Harry grumbled as he grabbed his books and hustled out of the room.

"Honestly, Harry ... he's not that bad!" Hermione scolded as she followed him. Harry glanced over at Neville and Ron and the three of them just rolled their eyes in amused disgust.

"Hermione ... just know that when we get proved right, we reserve the right to tell you 'I told you so'., ok?" Harry said as they scurried towards the DADA classroom.