บท 40: CSI Hogwarts
Days slipped by as Oleandra and her friends settled into their daily routine. Waking up in the morning, eating breakfast, going to classes, eating dinner, going to afternoon classes, eating supper, doing homework and having some leisure time.
Daphne was doing very well in class, having always been the better witch between the two twins, and as a result she was getting more out of Ingwaz's concentration buff than her sister. As always, Oleandra struggled in Transfiguration class.
That is how Oleandra had whiled away her October days, and in the blink of an eye, the month had come and gone. But despite the apparently outwardly peaceful atmosphere, Oleandra was nothing but calm. At seemingly completely random intervals, the Naudhiz rune would burn white-hot in her inner world, the rune of distress and necessity indicating she was in mortal peril. Except, she clearly wasn't in any danger. It would sound the alarm in empty corridors, in the bathroom and in classes full of people. Anywhere besides outdoors, really.
As the days went by, Oleandra became increasingly paranoid as her nerves frayed, and it was becoming an issue in her daily life. The stars had never lied to her, so she took the warnings extremely seriously.
It all came to a head when she was forced to take an emergency trip to one of the girl's bathrooms on the first floor. Normally, she would have avoided this bathroom like the plague, since an annoying ghost named Moaning Myrtle had taken up residence there. This ghost was prone to hysterics and making water jet out from the toilets. The bidet being a little too much for the sensibilities of the average English person in the early nineties, one can imagine how receiving a blast of water in the behind might prove to be an unpleasant experience.
Nevertheless, having imbibed a little bit too much pumpkin juice at the Halloween feast, nature called. Her business concluded, Oleandra was about to push open the door to her bathroom stall, when Naudhiz began to quietly shine. Not wanting to die in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Oleandra was about to burst out and run for her life, when Naudhiz started burn with such an intensity that she felt like her head was going to split apart. She fell to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes, fingernails digging deep into her face.
And then the pressure had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Something broke within Oleandra. If the invisible menace wanted a fight, then it would get one!
"COME AND FIGHT ME, YOU COWARD!" Oleandra shrieked like Banshee. Upon saying these foolhardy words, she ran out of the bathroom, darting through the empty corridors, going in the opposite direction Naudhiz was telling her to go, like a game of Hot or Cold for crazed lunatics.
As Oleandra rounded a corner running full tilt, she ran smack dab into something soft, and very hairy. The impact of the collision sent her and the mystery obstacle sprawling to the ground.
"HAGAL!" snarled Oleandra, rolling away and to her feet. She had just summoned the rune in its aspect of electrical storms!
Lightning crackled between her fingers, streaks of electrical discharge licking the ground around Oleandra's feet.
"Would you mind looking where you're going," said Hermione Granger annoyedly, holding a bloody nose.
Oleandra's senses returned to her, and she allowed her magic dissipate as soon as she realized who she had just run into. Who else but Gryffindor's golden trio could it have been?
"What are you three doing here?" Oleandra asked. They ought to have been in the Great Hall, enjoying the Halloween feast, instead of here in this deserted corridor.
Not wanting to reveal that they had come here following Harry, who heard voices that only he could perceive, Hermione quickly came up with an alternative explanation, without resorting to lies.
"We were attending Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday celebration, but there was nothing for us to eat. We were going to see if anything was left to eat in the Great Hall, when we ran across this on the wall."
Following Granger's gaze, Oleandra soon found what the three of them had been looking at. On the wall, a message had been painted in crimson red between two windows.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
"What's that thing — hanging underneath?" said Weasley, his voice trembling.
Underneath the inscription hung a cat. It had been pinned to a torch bracket by the tail, but the cat was completely rigid, its eyes frozen open.
Granger was instantly suspicious. The fact that Oleandra had arrived after them meant nothing. She knew enough from muggle television that criminals often returned to the scene of the crime to admire their handiwork. Furthermore, Mrs. Norris had clearly been petrified, and she knew for a fact that Oleandra knew such magic.
"What about you?" asked Granger, her brow furrowing. "What were you doing here?"
"Never mind that," Weasley said nervously. "We should get out of here."
"Shouldn't we try and help —" Harry began. He didn't especially like Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, but this was clearly a case of animal abuse.
"Trust me," said Weasley. "We don't want to be found here."
Of course, Weasley had to jinx them, because the rumble of a hundred footsteps arose right after those words had escaped his lips. The feast had just ended, which meant the corridor was about to be flooded with students! A stream of people emerged from two opposite ends of the corridor, loudly talking and gossiping. But the chatter soon ceased as they came across the four students who were looking extremely guilty, right there at the scene of the crime. People spoke in hushed whispers, as they pointed in turn at the writing on the wall, the petrified cat and the four second years.
A single voice resounded.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" said Draco Malfoy gleefully, a wide grin appearing on his face flushed with excitement.
"Uh-oh," Oleandra thought to herself as her heart sank. Thanks to Draco, she had just realized what the message implied. She might as well have stood under a neon sign that read HEIR OF SLYTHERIN while fireworks exploded in the background!
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