Ron did not get in trouble. Harry figured that Malfoy probably hadn’t dared tell anyone. After all, he had said something really bad, and the whole Quidditch team had heard.
Ironically, some weeks later, Harry got into trouble over as something as harmless as walking into the castle with muddy boots.
He escaped, as Nearly Headless Nick got Peeves to distract Filch, but out of gratitude promised to go to Nick’s Deathday Party on Halloween.
Which, when the day came and the Halloween decorations in the Great Hall looked absolutely splendid, he regretted a bit.
Hermione, however, was very curious what such a party might be like, and Harry had to admit that he had grown rather spoiled.
Sure, Hagrid’s giant pumpkins were great, and the living bats, and the dancing skeletons Dumbledores had allegedly hired ... but when Harry thought back to living in Privet Drive, he realized he couldn’t complain ... a Halloween party with real ghosts was appropriately spooky.
Or would be, if one hadn’t gotten so used to ghosts that they didn’t seem much different from living people.
The party was interesting at first, but all the ghosts meant the room was pretty cold, the food was all rotten and inedible because the ghosts preferred it that way, and then the Headless Hunt , a ghost club that hadn’t admitted Nick, added insult to injury by making fun of his incomplete beheading and distracting everyone from the speech he wanted to give.
After Harry had, rather unsuccessfully, tried to defend Nick against the leader of the Headless Hunt, he figured he couldn’t help Nick by staying longer and they decided to leave.
They hoped for pudding in the Great Hall, but then, Harry heard a voice. A voice that spoke of murdering someone.
Hermione and Ron couldn’t hear it, but followed him when he ran.
Instead of being able to prevent a murder, though, they ended up being suspects.
The victim was only Mrs. Norris, which meant it wasn’t as serious as it could have been, but Harry still feared he would be expelled.
Filch, after all, seemed convinced Harry must have done it, for reasons Harry didn’t even understand.
Dumbledore said the cat wasn’t dead, and that he didn’t think Harry could have done it, as it required powerful dark magic, but Filch insisted so forcefully Harry was a bit worried he might convince Dumbledore in the end – and one could still get expelled for performing dark magic, even if no one died.
“If I might speak, Headmaster”, Snape said from the shadows.
Harry relaxed. If Dumbledore thought petrifying a cat was too advanced for anyone in second grade, then Snape would certainly declare Harry too weak and stupid to even know about such magic. And with what was at stake, Harry wouldn’t even get angry at the insult.
Snape indeed pointed out they could just have been in the wrong space at the wrong time – exactly what had happened! – but then claimed they had acted suspicous.
“Why go up that corridor?”, he asked.
Hermione and Ron looked at Harry.
Harry very briefly considered not saying anything – after all, in the Muggle world, people who heard voices others couldn’t hear were considered crazy – but then Snape moved, his dark cloak billowing around him like wings, and Harry remembered he wasn’t in the Muggle world.
Snape would probably even know about the dark magic that made it so only Harry could hear the voice.
Perhaps knowing what Harry had heard would help them figure out who had attacked Mrs. Norris.
So Harry described what he had heard.
Dumbledore asked Hermione and Ron if they had heard it, too, but Hermione shook her head, and confirmed that Ron also hadn’t heard anything.
“He is lying!” Filch screeched. „If there had been any voice, his friends would have heard it, too! He did that to Mrs. Norris!“
“His behaviour is, indeed, highly suspicious”, Snape agreed. “If I may, Headmaster, I would interrogate the boy. You know I have the means ...”
“I can do that”, Filch said darkly. “I will put the screws on him.”
Harry shivered, he didn’t think Filch was speaking figuratively.
“We do not torture students in this school, Argus. And I daresay, Severus’ methods will yield better results in any case”, Dumbledore said firmly. “But since Harry was so kind to tell us the truth, I do think he and his friends deserve the opportunity to eat dessert in the Great Hall before any further questioning takes place.” He looked at Professor McGonagall. “If you would accompany them, Minerva? Just in case Harry hears the voice again.”
“Of course.”
Professor McGonagall walked at a brisk pace.
“You won’t let Snape interrogate Harry, will you?” Ron asked. “I mean, you are our Head of House, if anything, that’d be your job.”
“Most likely, the Headmaster will talk to Mr. Potter himself, should any additional questions arise.”
Ron didn’t seem much consoled, and even Hermione looked at Harry as though he was going to be executed in the morning.
Harry couldn’t find it in himself to be worried. He would get to eat pudding in the Great Hall! Perhaps the dancing skeletons would still be there, even!
“I assure you”, Professor McGonagall added. “That the means Professor Snape referred to are entirely painless.”
“Didn’t sound like it.”
“Professor Snape likes to intimidate. If he ever threatened to poison you, he was no more serious than I am when I say I ought to turn one of you into a pocket watch. Which is to mean, not at all. Neither of us would ever harm a student.”
That seemed to reassure Hermione, but Ron still looked worried.
“Considering the events of last year, I will not advise you to blindly trust all teachers, but Professor Snape has been here for a long time. There is no reason to fear him.” Professor McGonagall continued. “Though perhaps”, she added drily. “It might be wise to be cautious if he ever does get to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
Hagrid had mentioned something about the Defense teachers, too. Harry supposed they had gotten a few bad apples over the years.
They arrived in the Great Hall just in time for pudding. There was chocolate cake decorated with tiny chocolate bats, pumpkin pie and wobbly green jelly.
Even better, Professor McGonagall conjured a plate of sandwiches so that they could make up for missing the main course.
Harry had just finished his chocolate cake, when Ron made a startled noise.
Looking up, Harry saw Snape approach their table.
“Potter, follow me. The Headmaster wishes to question you again.”
Harry supposed he should probably feel afraid, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Somehow, looking at Snape’s billowing black robes had a soothing effect on him, although Harry had no idea why.
Perhaps it was because of how decidedly un-Dursleyish it was to wear robes, so regardless what else happened, at least Harry knew Hogwarts was very real and he’d only have to see the Dursleys again in summer.
There was a secret door behind a Gargoyle and a moving staircase, and then they were in what must be Dumbledore’s office.
Dumbledore sat behind a claw-footed desk in the middle of the round room. “Thank you, Severus.” He got up and walked around the table so he stood directly in front of Harry. “I am sure you told the truth, Harry. You mentioned you did not exactly remember what the voice said, is that right?”
Harry nodded. “I’m sorry.”
„No need to be. There are not many wizards today who would be able to quote, word for word, something they only heard once. However, as you surely understand, it is of the utmost importance that we find the source of that mysterious voice.”
He nodded again. “I wish I could remember.”
“There is a way to make you remember – for someone else to look at your memory and see it as you saw it at the time, even.” Dumbledore spoke softly, and Harry sensed that there would be a ‘But’ in the next sentence.
“Does it hurt?“
“Not at all. I must warn you, though, that the one doing this would have access to all your memories, even those you would prefer to hide. You would simply have to trust our word that we won’t.”
Harry frowned. „Like, if I had a diary and let you read part of it?”
“Somewhat like that, yes“, Dumbledore said gently.
“If you accidentally see something else ...” Nearly Headless Nick couldn’t get in trouble for dropping the vanishing cabinet to distract Filch. What would they even do to a ghost? But Fred and George could get in trouble for flying their father’s car. Ron could get in trouble for hexing Malfoy. And then, last year, Hagrid ...
“Information gleaned by using Legilimency is not considered viable proof in court”, Snape said. “Nor is it considered such in the school rules. You need not fear punishment for any wrongdoings one might find in your mind.”
“Oh. Okay, then. Do it.“
„I can do it myself“, Dumbledore said gently. “Or Professor Snape could do it. He is, I am afraid, more precise and less likely to see anything unrelated to the incident. It is up to you what you are more comfortable with.”
Harry considered the matter for a moment. “I guess it’ll be faster if Professor Snape does it, then.” He hated the man, he knew, and he should feel revulsion at the thought of Snape reading his mind, but ... he just didn’t. Perhaps because his hate for a nasty teacher didn’t matter when there was a dark wizard in the school, petrifying cats and threatening people.
“Very well.” Snape moved to stand directly in front of Harry. “Look at me and think of a moment some time before the incident. ”
It was rather hard to concentrate while looking into Snape’s dark eyes, but Harry managed to remember the moment he had known Nick’s party was ruined.
Him stuttering that Nick was very frightening.
Patrick yelling: “Bet he asked you to say that!”
It wasn’t any more pleasant the second time over.
Then he heard the voice. This time he paid more attention to what exactly it said.
“Ah.” Suddenly he was in Dumbledore’s office again. Snape turned away from him.
“I could not hear the voice”, Snape told Dumbledore. “I could only verify that, indeed, Potter did seem very aggravated and told his friends he heard it.”
“I remember what it said, now”, Harry said. “’Rip, tear, kill. So hungry, for so long’, it said. And ‘Time to kill’, and then ‘I smell blood.’”
Snape and Dumbledore looked at each other.
“May I try again, Potter?”
Harry nodded and looked at Snape again. It hadn’t been pleasant, but Snape also hadn’t looked at any memories Harry didn’t want him to see.
This time, he remembered the dimly lit passageway immediately. The voice.
„I believe I heard something“ Snape said, looking at Dumbledore. „No words, but … noises. I have gleaned from the boy’s mind everything I could.“
Dumbledore nodded. “Thank you, Severus. And thank you very much indeed, Harry. I must ask you to not tell anyone other than Hermione and Ron what you heard. We cannot have the one responsible know of our suspicions, I am sure you understand.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You may go.”
Harry had already turned to leave when Snape said: “If you hear that voice again, Potter, you ought to flee, lest you lay down your life in protecting a cat.”
That did sound like Snape was making fun of Harry, but strangely enough, it also sounded as if Snape didn’t want Harry dead.
Ron and Hermione were waiting in the common room, and Harry told them everything.
“I knew he could read minds!” Ron exclaimed.
“It can’t be a wizard”, Hermione said, obviously thinking of something else. “Or at least, it is unlikely. A wizard wouldn’t talk like that, I think. Oh! I assumed it was male but ... is it? Did the voice sound male, Harry?“
Harry frowned. „I can’t say, really. Didn’t sound very deep, but also not very high.”
After Hermione got Professor Binns to talk about the Chamber of Secrets, they were sure that Harry must have heard the monster.
Hermione looked up monsters capable of human speech, but all the ones she found wouldn’t be able to turn themselves invisible. Much less go through stone ceilings, as Harry was sure the one he had heard must have done.
So they focused on who the Heir of Slytherin was.
Malfoy was the obvious suspect, but they had to know for sure.
When Hermione suggested Polyjuice Potion, Ron remembered that Fred and George had used a variation of that in their experimenting, and was very much against it.
“I would follow the recipe to the letter”, Hermione promised, but in vain.
“We could just tell Dumbledore”, Harry suggested.
Ron shook his head. “Remember last year, when we tried to tell McGonagall?”
Chapter 6